


You Belong To Me

by EndoratheWitch



Category: Hatari!, Strange Magic (2015)
Genre: 1960s, Africa, Animals, Drinking, F/M, Fluff, Hunters & Hunting, John Wayne movie, Mild Language, Photography, Strangers to Lovers, Zoo, era appropriate situations, hatari, inspired/based on Hatari
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:01:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 61,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24106387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EndoratheWitch/pseuds/EndoratheWitch
Summary: Bog traps and sells wild animals to zoos, Marianne and her sister are wildlife photographers who might get Bog and his group to change their ways.
Relationships: Bog King/Marianne (Strange Magic), Dawn/Sunny (Strange Magic)
Comments: 66
Kudos: 52





	1. The Rhino

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Katrinaprime123](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katrinaprime123/gifts).



> Based on the John Wayne movie Hatari! Prompt given to me by Katrinaprime123

Africa, 1962. 

A bead of sweat rolled slowly down Bog’s cheek as he gazed through the binoculars, watching a herd of wildebeest in the distance. Sweat soaked the back of the blue shirt he wore, and down the edge of his khaki pants. He was standing up in the cab of the “catching car” which was actually a beat-up and modified late-1940's or early-50's Chevy pickup. He ran his tongue over his teeth as he continued to stare through the binoculars. The shade provided from his baseball cap did little to keep the glare of the sun from his eyes. Also in the catching car with him was Sunny, their driver who was leaning on the door and wiping sweat from his face, Brutus, who was smoking a cigarette and somehow looking perfectly content in the heat, and Ian, a white haired blonde young man with large floppy hat on his head, staring out at the herd as if he knew exactly what Bog was looking at. 

Bog could feel another bead of sweat rolling slowly down the middle of his back, staining the light blue shirt he wore, but he didn’t move, only kept his blue eyes focused on the herd until he saw what he was looking for. 

He handed the binoculars to Ian before reaching down for the truck’s CB. His soft Scottish accent colored his words as he spoke. “Lizzie, he’s in the middle of that herd of wildebeest...let me know when you spot him.” 

A little ways off from them, Elizabeth--or Lizzie to her friends--was a tall, muscular woman wearing khaki shorts with a matching shirt and “digger” hat with short sun-bleached blonde hair. She picked up her binoculars from the seat of her open sided jeep and looked through them while holding the binoculars with one hand and the CB handset with the other. 

“I see him Bog. He looks like a good one.” Her rich, deep yet feminine voice came through the CB making Bog smile, especially when he saw from the corner of his eyes the way Ian blushed. 

Bog could tell by the tone of Lizzie’s voice that she was ready for the chase. “All right then, let’s go.” 

He put the CB handset back on its mount before moving from the front of the truck to the flatbed. “Come on Sunny, let’s go.” 

Sunny quickly climbed into the driver’s seat of the truck. 

Brutus reached into the back of the truck where he and Ian were standing, picked up the rope noose they were going to use to capture the animal they were after. He handed the rope noose to Bog, who grinned. 

Time to get to work. 

* 

Sunny drove them swiftly through the herd, sending the animals running. Not far behind, Lizzie and her driver, a man named Pare, followed. 

Bog stood in the back of the truck, the rope noose in his hands, Brutus and Ian stood ready to help once Bog slung the noose over their prize’s head. 

Separating from the herd of wildebeest was a lone rhino, a large, perfect beast with a long, dangerous horn. The animals began to run once the wildebeests scattered, leaving it alone. 

The rhino weaved, starting to run one way, then another, trying to avoid the truck that was speeding toward it. 

Sunny stuck his head out the window with a grin. “Must be female! She can’t decide which way to go!” 

Bog frowned, reaching down without looking and with one hand gave Sunny a smack in the ear. Sunny yelped, then chuckled. He never meant the chauvinist jokes he made, he only made them to irritate Bog who always answered any such joke with a smack. Nothing painful, but Sunny thought it was funny the way Bog never said a word, he simply smacked him on the back of the head or on the ear. It never failed, no matter where Bog was when Sunny made a male chauvinist joke, the tall, dark haired man appeared like magic to give him a smack. Sunny liked to test this reaction by sometimes waiting weeks without a joke, then saying something out of the blue just to see if Bog would smack him. 

He hadn’t been disappointed yet--Bog was quick and ready with the smacks. 

Sunny still found it funny. 

Returning his focus to driving, Sunny brought the modified truck up alongside the rhino. Bog had pulled his goggles down over his startling blue eyes, his focus on the animal. The goal was to get the noose around the creature without causing the animal any harm, while also not causing any of his crew any harm. It was a tricky, delicate balancing act, but Bog was good at his job. 

* 

On the other side of the rhino with her tranq gun in hand, Lizzie stayed focused on the rhino as well. 

* 

Bog frowned in concentration. This animal was strong, and it was scared. He hated to scare the animals, but it was nearly impossible to avoid. 

He called down to Sunny. “Tell Pare and Lizzie to let the rhino run a bit, let it tire itself out.” 

Sunny nodded and grabbed the CB. “Lizzie, Bog says to let him run a bit longer, get him tired.” 

* 

Lizzie answered back. “Sounds good, just be careful. Don’t want your mother after me Bog.” 

She smirked at Pare who was grinning. 

Bog’s mother, Griselda, pretty much ran the place and treated everyone as if she were their mother, especially to Brandy de la Court, the daughter of the former owner who now owned the company that employed them. Griselda had a fit whenever anyone got hurt, but if her son got hurt (which was frequently) or put himself into unnecessary danger, she was worse than any angry hippo in Africa. 

* 

Bog made a face having heard Lizzie, but Sunny took delight in repeating her. “She says she doesn’t want your mother…” 

Bog grumbled. “Yeah, yeah I heard her. Shut up and drive.” 

Sunny chuckled. 

* 

Lizzie and Pare drove alongside the rhino. 

Lizzie had her gun ready, her eyes darting between the animal and Bog whose truck was hemming in the rhino on the other side. She could see that Bog was about to make an attempt with the noose. This part was always frightening. So many things could go wrong. Bog could simply miss, which was not particularly worrisome, or he could overshoot and topple from the truck. He could snag the rhino’s horn and get yanked from the truck, dragged, or trampled by the beast or both. He could get dragged out of the truck and Sunny could accidentally run Bog over, or the rhino could pull Bog out of the truck, turn and spear him on its horn. 

The number of ways Bog could be killed were endless. 

Lizzie’s hands on her gun were tight, her knuckles turning white as she watched and waited. 

* 

Bog leaned out farther, his long, lanky frame giving him a longer reach. He focused on the rhino’s head as he held the loop of the rope and leaned out, the truck still racing alongside the beast. He eased the rope forward. He just about had the noose in position, just a quick movement and he would have the noose past the rhino’s horn and over its head and around its neck… 

The rhino suddenly spooked and slung its massive body to the side, slamming into the jeep that Lizzie and Pare rode in. 

Pare yelped and struggled with the wheel as the jeep took a hard bump, but he kept the jeep from toppling over from the powerful slam by the rhino. 

Bog cursed under his breath. “That rhino’s a fucking cunt…” he yelled at Sunny. “Let them stay back, since this one’s being a cunt.” 

Sunny grinned, grabbing the CB. “Bog said to take your time, this one’s a mean one.” 

Bog muttered, “That isn’t what I said…” 

Sunny pulled the truck past the rhino, but the animal hit the thrust with the side of it’s head. As Sunny pulled a little further pass it the rhino began to slam the back of the truck with its head, then the beast tried to cram it’s impressively sharp horn under the truck’s tailgate and bumper. 

Sunny cursed to himself as he struggled with the steering wheel If that rhino flipped them, then not only was the capture over, their lives could very well be over too. 

Sunny clenched his jaw and pressed on the gas, pulling away from the rhino. 

He glanced over to Pare in the jeep, the man giving him a hand signal. Both vehicles took wide turns on the African plain, spinning around to give the capture another try. 

Sunny maneuvered the truck alongside the rhino again, putting on a little extra speed. Too much speed, he realized as the rhino once more rammed it’s head against the truck, coming into contact with the large tires tied along the side to act as another layer of bumper protection. 

Bog called out. “Careful Sunny! You’re gonna lose him if you give him an opening to break free!” 

Sunny didn’t answer Bog, but instead focused on circling in a tight circle. They had to keep the rhino both running and contained. It was a delicate balance between keeping the animal close and wearing it out so that Bog could capture whatever creature they were running down, but not giving the animal space to break free of their circle and make a break for it across the plain. If they wore the rhino out, the chances of that happening were slim, but it could still happen. 

Sunny came by for another pass while Bog leaned dangerously far out of the back of the truck. 

Pare brought their jeep along the rhino’s other side, again--a little too close--and the rhino took advantage of their closeness to slam its head against the side of the jeep, this time impacting with the front half of Pare’s jeep with enough force that one wheel rose up off the ground. The jarring impact forced Lizzie to grab for her gun and the top of the jeep or be thrown out. 

“God damn it!” Pare hissed followed by a gasp as a sudden burning pain lanced across his thigh. He glanced down to see that the rhino had scored a hit, it’s horn having torn through Pare’s pant leg and into his thigh. 

Lizzie cursed. “Shit!” 

* 

Bog saw a flash of red, and knew immediately what had happened. “Fuck! Sunny! Pare’s been hit! Swing around!” 

Sunny pulled the truck around heading to where Lizzie had helped pull the jeep aside, away from the rhino who took off across the plain. 

When Sunny brought the truck to a stop alongside the jeep, Pare’s head was lying against Lizzie’s chest, his hands holding the freely bleeding wound together. 

Bog threw himself out of the truck yelling. “GET ME THE FIRST AID KIT!!” 

He hurried over to the jeep all smiles. “You know you don’t have to go to such extremes to get a vacation Pare, you could just ask me.” The smile and flippant humor masked how terrified Bog felt for Pare. A thigh wound could be bad if an artery had been hit (from the fact that dark blood wasn’t pumpling freely from his friend and employee, Bog hoped the wound wasn’t too bad. There were a hundred and one things and more that could kill someone out here, though, starting with a simple infection.) 

Pare looked ghostly pale, his hands and leg covered in bright red blood, but he grinned. “Well if you weren’t such an asshole all the time, I would have asked.” 

Bog chuckled, grabbing the first aid kit from Sunny as he got to work on treating the wound. He couldn’t do much out here, but he should be able to control the bleeding until they got Pare back to the compound. 

“Why didn’t you shoot him?” Bog glanced up at Lizzie who gave him an annoyed look as she hissed, clearly more angry with herself than with Bog’s question. “Didn’t realize the rhino wanted to ride in the jeep with us.” 

Bog smirked and nodded as he worked on cleaning Pare’s wound. “Fair enough,” he said. 

Lizzie added quietly as Bog started to wrap gauze around Pare’s thigh. “It’s my fault, I should have shot him.” 

Pare smiled weakly. “You can shoot him next time.” 

Bog glanced up. “Liz, it’s not your fault. Animals are unpredictable. You couldn’t have known it was going to hit you like that.” Bog glanced down at Pare’s leg then shook his head. “The bleeding isn’t stopping. We need to get you to a hospital.” 

Bog stepped back. “Get him in the back of the truck so he can lay down.” 

The others swamped Pare, lifting the man out of the jeep while Bog hurried to the CB. “Aruska control, Aruska control…” 

A female voice came back in response. “This is Aruska control, go ahead--over.” 

“This is Bog King, we got a man down, gored by a rhino, he’s bleeding badly. Will you alert Dr. Sanderson that we’ll be coming straight to the hospital, it’ll take us about five hours from now. Over.” 

The female voice on the other end of the line responded. “Will do. Anything else? Over.” 

“No, that’s it. Over.” Bog replaced the CB watching as the others made Pare as comfortable as possible. Lizzie had followed Bog over to the front of the truck. She looked sick and pale. 

“That wound looks really bad,” she whispered, the strain in her voice clear. She was doing her best to hold herself together, but she was startling to crumble. 

Bog nodded, pulling out a crumpled package of cigarettes from his pants pocket, reaching in to pull one of them out and placing the cigarette between his lips. He pulled out an equally rumpled book of matches, and quickly lit a match. He held the flame to the end of the cigarette, speaking around it. 

“Yeah, it does.” 

Bog took a drag off his cigarette after shoving the cooled, used match into his pocket before turning to look at Lizzie. The taste of the cigarette chased away the taste of dust in his mouth from the drive and unsuccessful capture. She looked devastated. He knew the two of them were...well he wasn't sure exactly what was going on between Lizzie and Pare, but the rumors were they were a couple and judging by her reaction, that was probably the case. It would have been bad for a companion, but for a lover it was worse. Which was one of the reasons he didn’t bother with a relationship. They were too much trouble, complicated, messy, and besides, he had yet to meet a woman who was interested in a man like him--ugly and dedicated to his work. 

Bog slowly blew the smoke out through his nose before he turned and headed into the cab of the truck. “Get in the back with Pare,” he told Lizzie as he walked past her. 

Lizzie nodded and hurried to climb into the back. 

Bog called out. “Brutus! Take the jeep and drive ahead to the compound, get my mother and Brandy, they’ll both want to be there.” 

Brutus called out an affirmative just as Bog threw himself into the passenger seat of the truck. 

* 

The drive to Aruska was hot and dirty, but beautiful. Bog had his arm out the window while Sunny drove, watching the bright afternoon sky turn to rosey pink, then purple. He smiled as he watched the scenery go by. No matter how long he lived in Africa, he would never be bored with how beautiful the land was, the people, and the animals. He loved everything about this country, even if it was dangerous at times. 

* 

Brutus arrived at the compound and hurried inside. He could hear music, Ray Charles singing “I Can’t Stop Loving You.” He followed the sound to the kitchen where he found Griselda and Brandy standing together by the sink, washing the dishes together. 

Griselda was a short woman with frizzy red hair, dressed in capri pants and a blue workman’s shirt, her red hair pulled back into a bun, while Brandy was young, no more than twenty-five, wearing a soft lemon yellow sundress, her light brown hair flipping up at the ends in the latest style for a young woman in 1962. Brutus thought it was cute that even out here on the plains in Africa, Brandy tried to keep up with the latest fashion. 

It was even more amusing since both women were barefoot. 

While Griselda was everyone’s mother, Brandy was everyone’s little sister, especially Bog. Even though technically Brandy was his boss, Bog treated her like his little sister, which included chasing off or threatening to shoot potential suitors. 

Brutus cleared his throat and both women turned. 

Brandy frowned. “Brutus, aren’t you early?” 

Brutus rubbed his dirty and sweat covered face. “We had an accident, Pare got horned by a rhino. The others are headed to the hospital, but Bog sent me ahead to get the both of you, thought you both might want to be there.” 

Griselda was quickly wiping her hands on a dishtowel. “Is it bad?” 

Brutus nodded. 

Brandy turned pale. 

Griselda gently took Brandy by her upper arm. “Let’s get going.” 

The young woman nodded as they both followed Brutus out of the kitchen. 

* 

The small hospital waiting room was full. Bog, all his people from the hunt, along with Brandy and his mother took up all the seats in the waiting room. Bog paced, moving restlessly back and forth across the room, his long legs cutting up the space in seconds. 

Sunny was leaning forward, his hands hanging between his legs. Brandy sat between him and Brutus, smoking a cigarette and looking scared and nervous. 

“How long is this going to take?” Sunny asked nobody in particular, but Bog answered him anyway with a snap. 

“It’ll take as long as it takes!” 

Sunny frowned at him, but said nothing. He knew Bog was tense. These were his people and while Bog could remain cool most of the time, when his people were hurt, he reacted...that and 

Sunny knew that Bog hated hospitals. 

Brutus aswerned Bog’s snappy reply. “You mean to tell if a man will live or not?” 

Griselda, who sat across the room, her legs spread out, hands crossed over her stomach and with her eyes closed, murmured. “Patience, patience is a virtue.” 

Lizzie sat next to the older woman, bouncing her leg and looked up, but said nothing. 

Bog gave his mother a dirty look that she completely ignored. 

Bog continued to pace while everyone else waited, either smoking nervously or staring at the walls. 

Ian looked around. “Anyone got a smoke?” 

Bog pulled out his wrinkled pack of cigarettes and tossed them to Ian only to have them snatched out of the air by a young, handsome blonde man who came waltzing into the waiting room. 

He had a cocky grin on his handsome face as he tossed the cigarettes to Ian. Ian gave the man a disgusted look as he snatched the cigarettes out of the air. 

“I’m looking for Bog King,” the young man announced, grinning from ear to ear with a cocky self assurance that made Bog want to punch the young man in his perfect nose. The man’s accent was French, but Bog knew enough natural French speakers to tell that the accent, while good, wasn’t real, but put on. There was an American flavor to the accent that Bog and anyone familiar with a real French accent would recognize. “I hear there’s a job opening.” 

Bog wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Who’s asking? And what fucking job are you asking about?” 

The young man smiled. “The name’s Roland Knight. I heard your group was down a man.” 

Everyone in the room tensed. 

Bog’s blue eyes widened a fraction and his sharp jaw stiffened as he growled. “In a bit of a hurry aren’t you?” 

Brandy looked shocked, her brown eyes glancing at everyone in the room as she hissed in astonishment. “Is he asking for Pare’s job?” 

Roland looked around at everyone and shrugged. “I thought if I waited someone might beat me to the job.” 

Lizzie was on her feet in a heartbeat. “You better get out of here, you piece of shit! Pare is going to be fine!!” 

Roland, who had turned his attention to Bog, looked over at Lizzie before giving her an exaggerated up and down. “I wasn’t talking to you girlie.” 

Lizzie snarled. “Girlie!!” She slugged Roland hard across the face before the young man could respond, knocking the blonde man to the floor. 

She hissed, shaking her hand. “Ouch!” 

Bog snorted on a laugh, but laid a hand gently on Lizzie’s shoulder. “Okay, now that’s enough…” 

Roland was on his feet in an instant and grabbed for Lizzie, forcing Bog to put himself between them. “HEY!!” he yelled shoving Roland backwards. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing??!!” The others in the room had gotten to their feet ready for a fight. Ian grabbed Roland, yanking him back from Lizzie while Brutus pulled Lizze back, holding the big woman’s arms back. Even Brandy had risen to her feet. 

Bog shoved Roland back, causing both Roland and Ian to stumble back as Ian tried to keep a hold on Roland. “All right, all right that’s enough. You can’t take us all on,” Bog grumbled. 

“I can try!” Roland shouted. 

Bog chuckled. “Yeah well, bring your lunch.” 

That was the moment that Dr. Julia Sanderson, a middle-aged woman with white hair pulled back into a severe bun and dressed in her surgeon’s uniform came into the waiting room. Her calm voice cut through the yelling easily. 

“What is going on in my waiting room?” 

Everyone stopped and turned toward the doctor looking like a bunch of children caught misbehaving on the playground at school. 

Bog rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry doc...how’s Pare?” 

Dr. Sanderson shook her head. “He’s not doing well Bog.” She walked into the middle of the waiting room, all of Pare’s coworkers surrounding her along with Lizzie who looked so pale Bog worried she might pass out. 

“We have an issue. Unlike the rest of you who all have easy blood types, types I can easily match, Pare doesn’t. He needs an infusion of whole blood, but Pare has AB negative blood, not a blood type easy to come by in the first case, but harder out here in the middle of nowhere, and not one of you is a match.” She looked at all of them with a frown. “I don’t know if I can do anything for Pare,” she summed up in a solemn, quiet voice. 

Lizzie let out an anguished sob. 

That was when they all heard someone chuckling. 

Everyone turned to see Roland grinning like a cat, his arms crossed over his chest looking cocky. “Looks like you do need me.” 

Dr. Sanderson stared at Roland then asked. “AB negative?” 

Roland nodded. The smug look still danced across his face. His green eyes twinkled, his fake French accent still firmly in place despite the slight swelling on his bottom lip from Lizzie’s fist. “Guess you do need me.” He didn’t direct his statement at the doctor, but rather at Bog. 

“If you are willing…” The doctor lifted a brow at Roland as she pointed toward the surgery only to have Bog growl glaring back at Roland. “He is willing, if he wants a fucking job he is.” 

Roland sneered. “I don’t want your job. I don’t want anything from you.” 

“Are you not going to do it?” Lizzie asked in shock, her slightly swollen hand already forming another fist ready to deck the asshole. 

Roland looked even more smug. “Oh, I’ll do it, if you ask me nicely.” Again he directed his statement at Bog. 

Bog’s snarl was loud and threatening, but Brandy stepped forward, her voice soft as she asked. “Well, I’m asking you.” 

Roland smiled at her. “Sorry mademoiselle, but she is going to have to ask me.” He looked from Brandy to Lizzie. 

Lizzie narrowed her eyes, clearly ready to commit murder. “Fine, I’m asking you.” 

Roland stared at her then shrugged. “Fine.” He turned to the doctor. “So where do I go?” 

The doctor pointed down the hall. “Second door to the right, the nurse down there will get you ready.” 

Bog snarled, clearly fighting with himself as he said. “Come by tomorrow, we’ll see about putting you to work.” 

Roland put his nose in the air. “I’ll think about it,” he said before he sauntered off down the hall. 

Dr. Sanderson smiled at Bog as she said under her breath. “That young man will not be in any shape to go anywhere tomorrow. “ 

“Fine, just send him by whenever he’s on his feet,” Bog grumbled. 

Lizzie hissed. “You can’t be serious Bog!” 

Bog sighed. “Lizzie, Pare is going to be down for a while, might as well let that little shit fill in for him.” 

Lizzie frowned, but said nothing else. She knew Bog was right. Someone was going to have to take Pare’s place while he recovered. She would just make damn sure that Roland earned his place, whether it required her fists or not. 

Bog rubbed the back of his neck with a groan. “When will you know for sure that Pare will be out of trouble?” 

Dr. Sanderson smiled. “With the blood, he’ll be fine, but it’s going to be another three to four hours. Why don’t you all just do me and my staff a favor and go have a drink or something?” 

Bog nodded as the doctor walked away, turning to all his people in the waiting room. “Safari bar?” 

The entire group mumbled their agreement. 

* 

The bar, as usual, was full. 

Bog sat at a large round table with his people, his mother on his right and Sunny on his left, the rest of them all seated around the table nursing various drinks. There was a bottle of whiskey on the table in front of Bog, nearly half gone. He closed his eyes and set his shot glass down as the liquid burned going down his throat. 

His mother nursed a beer, her eyes on the bottle. 

Brandy had a Panorama Punch from which she had only taken a few sips, Sunny was on his second Screwdriver, while everyone else had various beers, some of them on their seconds, others on their thirds. Lizzie was on her way to be drunk as she nursed her third--large--shot of whiskey. Everyone was drinking in silence, completely unaware of the milling crowd around them, all of them lost in their own thoughts, their own worries as all of them prayed for Pare. Their table was like a funeral, that was until the phone at the bar rang. 

A tall dark-skinned man dressed all in white, walked over to pick up the elegant phone that sat on the bar counter. He picked it up and answered the phone. “Safari bar.” 

Just as the bartender picked up the phone, Bog and his crew all lunged toward the bar. The man saw them, but maintained his professional demeanor as he answered the phone, nodding to a question only he heard. 

“Yes, yes they are here.” 

The bartender handed the phone to Sunny, the first at the bar. 

Sunny held the phone to his ear while everyone gathered around him. “Hey doc, how’s Pare? Did he have a tough time, everything all right? Nothing went wrong did it? Is he awake? Can he talk?” 

Sunny looked over at Bog with concern. “The doctor isn’t saying anything.” 

Lizzie looked sick with worry. She held onto Sunny’s shoulders as if she needed the short man’s help to stay up. Bog frowned. The poor woman, he thought before he glared at Sunny. 

Bog grabbed the receiver from Sunny knowing that if he didn’t they would never get any answers because Sunny wouldn’t shut up long enough for the doc to get a word in edgewise. “Well you ain’t giving her a chance to talk!” 

Sunny gave Bog a confused looked. 

Bog held the receiver to his ear ignoring everyone staring at him. “Doc?” 

Bog was quiet for a moment before he replied, a smile beginning to stretch at his mouth. “Really? That sounds like him.” Bog grinned broader, glancing up and making eye contact with Lizzie and gave her a wink. He saw Lizzie weave a little in relief, a smile on her face. Sunny grabbed her and guided the tall woman to a stool. He glanced at Bog who continued to smile and nod as he listened to the doctor. 

Bog looked over at everyone and said out loud. “Pare’s sitting up in bed, asked for a drink, a steak and…” Bog looked over at Lizzie. “...wondered if a certain someone could sleep over with him in the hospital.” 

Lizzie giggled and blushed, both of which looked both awkward and sweet on the large woman as she settled on the stool using the bar to hold herself up. 

Griselda sighed, relaxed and took a large swallow from her beer. “I knew he would be fine.” 

Ian held his beer up with a loud cheer. 

Bog laughed into the phone. “Thanks doc.” 

He hung up the phone and slumped with relief. 

Bog stood upright, grinning from ear to ear and announced loudly for the entire bar. “The next round’s on me!” 

Everyone cheered, even those who had no idea what was going on, but free drinks were always a reason to celebrate. 

* 

It was late by the time everyone decided to head home to the compound. 

The drive home in the dark African night was filled with not just the sounds of the jeeps and trucks rumbling along a dirty road heading back to the compound, but with the high, loud and drunken sounds of Bog, Sunny, and Brutus singing over the CB radio as they led the small caravan home. In each vehicle following behind the one that contained Bog, Sunny and Brutus, one person was holding the CB radio while everyone in each vehicle sang drunkeningly the same song. 

Brandy’s drunk voice was high and melodic, Ian sang with the voice of a very drunk angel, while Griselda’s was pitched slightly low. Even Lizzie sang brightly. All the men sang with abandon, although not one of them carried the tune except Bog, who even in his drunken state somehow sang with perfect pitch even if he slurred his words a bit. 

“Oh, whiskey leave me alone 

Oh, whiskey leave me alone 

Oh, whiskey leave me alone” 

Remember I must go home!!!!” 

* 

The sounds of everyone singing rang through the African night as Brute drove (not as drunk as Bog and Sunny next to him.) The two men were wrapped in each other's arms as Bog held the CB speaker up for them both as they sang loudly into the little device. 

“I want to go home!!!” 

Sunny giggled leaning his head against Bog’s who was smiling. “You know I love you man?” 

Bog laughed. “Love you too buddy…” 

Sunny sang loudly again. “I want to go HOME!!” 

Bog started to laugh. 

* 

When they arrived back at the compound, Bog and Sunny were leaning heavily against each other, cleary the drunkest of the group except for Lizzie who was being escorted by Griselda and Brandy. Both women had their arms around the tall young woman trying to keep her upright as they steered her inside. 

Brutus hurried in first to turn the lights on. 

Sunny started to go right with Bog who waved at hand muttering drunkenly. “Port! Port!!” 

The two men made a wide circle left to avoid a table and chairs which took them by the liquid cabinet there a bottle of wine sat out, which Sunny grabbed before Bog pointed and muttered. 

“Starboard!” 

Sunny repeated, both men staggering right, moving around an old couch. “Starboard!!” 

Bog announced again. “Drop it!” 

Sunny repeated drunkenly. “Drop it!” 

He dropped the bottle with a loud thunk on the carpet and continued starboard. 

Bog announced drunkenly as the two men walked together toward the bedrooms on this side of the house. “Breakfast at six am everybody!!” 

Sunny giggled drunkenly holding onto Bog for support. “It’s a challenge we’ll try an’ meet.” 

Brandy laughed as she and Griselda carried Lizzie to her room. “Night everyone!” 

Griselda yelled back just before the three women disappeared to the other side of the house where their rooms were located. 

“I'll have hot coffee and a good Scottish breakfast ready for the drunk lot of you!” 

Sunny cheered. “Yeah!!” 

Bog arrived with Sunny at the younger man’s room, which was located next to his room. He pulled the door open for the shorter man and shoved him through. “Night Sunny.” 

“Nighty Night!!” Sunny disappeared into his darkened room only to be followed by the sounds of things falling and Sunny muttering loudly. “Who put that there??!” 

Bog chuckled, waving to Brutus and Ian. “Night!” 

Brutus grinned having picked Ian up who had passed out and carried the younger man over his shoulder to drop off in his room. “See ya in the morning Boss.” 

Bog nodded pulling his door open and stumbled drunkenly into his dark room. He didn’t notice the pretty brunette in bed who sat up as he kicked off his work boots, letting them fall on the floor where they may. 

The young woman sat up, holding the sheet to her chest, watching the tall, lanky man in the light from the moon that steamed in through the window as he yanked off his shirt and started to work on his pants. She smiled to herself. He was quite attractive she noticed, long, lean muscled torso, long legs, and very tall. 

She smirked before she said softly, just as Bog had unbuttoned the top of his pants. “I think I should tell you that you’re not alone.” 

Bog went stiff. 

He slowly stood up straight before he spun drunkenly around, frowning before he stumbled to the lightswitch and flipped on the light. 

Sitting in his bed wearing a pair of blue and white striped pajamas was a beautiful brunette with short, wild brown hair, large, gorgeous brown eyes, and a rosebud mouth. 

She smiled at him. 

Bog stared in shock, unblinking. 

He was about to open his mouth and say something that was probably rude, when there was a high pitched scream that Bog recognized as belonging to Sunny, followed by Sunny yelling at the top of his lungs, clearly sober now. 

“THERE’S A GIRL IN MY BED!”


	2. Giraffe Chase

Marianne smiled up at the handsome man glaring down at her. 

He had jumped at the sound of his friend’s scream, but he hadn’t moved to go and help. Apparently a strange girl in someone’s bed was not enough of a threat for him to run to his friend’s rescue. 

The man glared down at her with a pair of the most amazing blue eyes set in a sharp, narrow face. 

“We waited…” When the man lifted a brow at her, Marianne grinned. “My sister and I…” she said matter-of-factly. “...but after a while we both got really tired, so we both picked rooms. I guess I picked yours and my sister is currently in the bed of your friend who has a very shrill yell. I hope you don’t mind? I’m Marianne D'Alessandro, the young woman in the other room is my little sister, Dawn--same last name,” she added with a little smile. 

Bog swallowed. He was trying to be angry, but as the woman gazed up at him with those lovely brown eyes of hers, he found he had a hard time holding onto his anger. 

He shook his head in confusion as her words sank in. “Who did you say you were?” 

“Marianne D’Allesandro...who are you?” Marianne began, prompting a frown to form on the man’s face as he reached back to rub the back of his neck nervously. A moment later, he seemed to realize he was standing by his bed without a shirt on and his pants fly open. 

He practically leapt across the room to grab his shirt, holding it in front of him. Marianne did her best not to laugh. 

“Ah...the name’s Bog--Bog King,” he said then frowned. “What are you doing here?” 

Marianne smirked at him. “Well, I was trying to get some sleep.” 

Bog furrowed his brow at her and wrinkled his nose. “I mean, what are you doing here at all, not just in my bed.” 

“You weren’t expecting my sister and me?” She sat up a little straighter looking genuinely confused. Bog had to wonder what was going on in Sunny’s room since after the yell there had been silence. The fact that neither his mother, Brutus, nor anyone else came running was probably because they had all been a little bit drunk and were probably fast asleep. 

Bog frowned again, wait...maybe it wasn’t because everyone was asleep, maybe he was already asleep and this was a dream! He had been pretty drunk… 

Marianne watched in confusion as Bog reached out and very lightly touched her legs then her shoulder and hair. 

“What on earth are you doing?” she asked, looking more amused than angry. 

“Just checking to make sure I wasn’t dreaming,” Bog said absently before looking back at her. “You seem real.” 

Marianne smirked. “You sound like you’ve had a little bit to drink…” 

Bog grinned at her with amusement. “Nope, I’ve had a LOT to drink…” 

That was the moment someone knocked on his door followed by the door opening and a still very drunk Sunny wandering in wearing only his long night shirt looking confused and determined at the same time. 

Sunny slapped his hand on Bog’s bare chest with little force, the movement done more to keep him upright than to get Bog’s attention. “Bog...I need to talk to you about tomorrow morning and the fact that I found a really pretty girl in my bed. She keeps insisting she’s real…” 

Sunny turned drunkenly and noticed Marianne. He frowned in drunk confusion, blinked, and wandered close to Bog’s bed. 

He leaned forward and peered at the young woman watching him with amusement before he turned back to Bog and said in surprise. “You got one too?” 

Sunny turned back to frown drunkenly at Marianne, weaving in place as if he were on a ship at sea. 

Bog touched Sunny’s shoulder causing the younger man to spin around nearly toppling himself over. Bog grabbed him by his shoulders keeping Sunny from falling over. 

Sunny frowned, looking confused and surprised at Bog, then gasped loudly. “Oh yeah, I wanted to talk to you about tomorrow morning…” Sunny looked back over his shoulder at Marianne and asked in a slurred voice. “The one in my bed shed-said she had a sister...is this one--ah, this the sister?” 

Bog shrugged. “I don’t know.” 

“I am,” Marianne confirmed in a pleasant tone with a smile. 

Sunny looked back at Bog. “Why are there girls in our beds? I mean, I ain’t complaining, but…” He weaved a little bit, looking very confused while Bog tried to hold him steady, while feeling a bit wobbly himself. 

Just as Bog was about to ask Marianne why she was here again, a drunk Lizzie wandered through the open door to Bog’s room. “Hey Bog…” 

Lizzie stopped short staring at Marianne. “Why’s there a girl in your bed?” 

Sunny giggled. “I got one too.” 

Lizzie frowned drunkenly and leaned against Bog. “Why are there girls in your beds?” she asked again. 

“I don’t know,” Bog said sincerely. 

Sunny looked at Lizzie. “He doesn’t know who she is and I don’t know who the one in my bed is…” 

Lizzie blinked. “Why are they in your bed?” She asked again and looked at Bog, but it was Sunny who muttered. “He doesn’t know that either.” 

Bog sighed and let go of Sunny who wobbled in place. The tall man rubbed the back of his neck with the hand holding his shirt forgetting that he had been using the shirt to cover himself. “I didn’t say that.” 

Lizzie weaved a bit. “What did you say?” 

“I don’t know…” Bog shrugged. 

“That’s exactly what he said,” Sunny answered. 

“What?” Bog asked. 

“I don’t know,” Sunny replied. 

“Well if you don’t know, why didn’t you say so?” Bog muttered with a heavy crease in his forehead. The confusion was giving him a headache. 

Lizzie leaned on Bog, her hand smacking against his bare chest. “Okay okay, let me get this straight...I’m getting confused...you said…” 

Sunny waved his hands around. “No, no, no...let’s start from the top…” 

Marianne cleared her throat. “You know, my sister and I both had a very long trip and I’m exhausted, I’m sure she’s exhausted, and we would both very much like to get some sleep, wouldn’t all of you?” 

Bog glared at her and muttered, “I certainly would.” 

Lizzie pointed at Marianne. “Who are you and why are you in Bog’s bed?” 

“And why is your sister in my bed?” Sunny asked. 

Marianne chuckled softly. “Why don’t we all get some sleep and introduce ourselves in the morning?” 

Sunny stared at her then nodded. “Yeah. Yeah that sounds good. We can tackle this with clearer eyes and heads in the morning.” 

Lizzie frowed and shrugged. “Okay...good night.” She waved, did a drunken, lopsided turn, and stumbled out the door. 

Sunny waved as he headed to the door. “Night Bog. Wait…” He spun back around. “Where am I going to sleep?” 

Bog had shuffled across his room and had begun to rummage in his closet for a spare blanket, waved absently at Sunny. “Go sleep in that chair you’re always falling asleep in.” 

“Oh...that’s a good idea…” Sunny pointed at Bog before he spun around and stumbled out of the room. 

Marianne smiled at Bog as he walked toward the door, his shirt forgotten on the floor, the blanket clutched to his chest. He reached for the light turning it off as Marianne said softly. 

“Thank you for the use of your bed.” 

Bog grumbled, “I didn’t have much say in it, did I…” before he stumbled out of the room and closed the door behind him. 

* 

The next morning Ian, Brutus, Lizzie, and Bog sat around the large breakfast table in the dining room. 

Lizzie held up a pot and was filling Bog’s mug with black coffee. The cup only shook a little as Bog, wearing jeans he had grabbed off the laundry line and a wrinkled shirt, held the cup up. The hangover made him feel only mildly ill, though if he looked down at the food on his plate for too long he realized he might become violently ill. 

Griselda had laid the table with a full Scottish breakfast just as she promised with baked beans, tattie scones, porridge, yogurt, a bowl of blueberries, toast, orange marmalade, bangers, sauteed mushrooms, boiled tomatoes with cheese on top, bacon, eggs and blood sausage. 

Bog’s plate was loaded with food, his mother having filled the plate for him the moment he sat down, even though it was the coffee that he most wanted after a night of drinking and sleeping on the couch. 

Everyone looked strung out with bad hangovers except Sunny who came prancing into the room, his caramel colored skin all aglow, brown eyes bright and clear, and with a bright smile on his face. He looked fresh and showered, his short brown hair brushed back. “Morning everyone. Wow Griselda! This looks fantastic!” he yelled toward the kitchen. 

From the kitchen Bog’s mother called out. “Thank you dear!” 

Sunny grabbed a plate and started to fill it with food. “Wow, this all smells great.” He frowned as he noticed no one else was eating. “What’s wrong guys?” 

Bog groaned and lit a cigarette. “Not this morning Sunny, go away or shut up…” 

Lizzie groaned while holding her head between her hands with her elbows on the table. “Preferably both.” 

Brutus grinned, taking a bite of bacon as he glanced at Sunny. “Always kills me how you can drink like that Sunny, then wake up the next morning all sunshine and smiles.” 

Sunny grinned. “That’s why they call me Sunny and not, ‘drunk guy under the jeep.’” 

“Haha…” Bog groaned taking a drag off his cigarette before sipping his coffee. 

Sunny shrugged, mixing his egg with his baked beans. “You know, I think I might give up drinking. I thought I saw a girl in my room, then another one in Bog’s room and I woke up in the easy chair on the front porch.” 

Lizzie muttered. “You did see a girl, two girls.” 

“I did…” He looked around. “Who were they? Where are they?” 

Bog rubbed his temple with one hand. “Don’t start that again…” 

“What again?” Sunny asked only to have Bog reply under his breath. “I don’t know…” 

“But Lizzie just said…” Sunny muttered. 

That was when Brandy, dressed in khaki pants with a matching shirt, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, came into the room all smiles and carrying a couple of bags. “Hey guys, look what I found!” She set the bags down and dropped one on the corner of the table opening it up. “Camera equipment,” she announced. “All professional equipment.” 

Sunny gasped. “You think those girls belong to that equipment?” 

Bog shot a frown at Sunny then turned to Lizzie as he remembered something. “Didn’t Pare get a letter from some photographer?” 

Lizzie frowned in thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, from a zoo in Switzerland…” 

Sunny looked confused. “Yeah, Pare showed me that letter, but the photographer was a guy.” 

Bog motioned at Sunny. “Go see if you can find that letter sunshine.” 

Sunny stuck his tongue out a Bog for calling him sunshine, but he hurried into the living room to the desk where they kept most of the compound's correspondence while Brandy looked down at 

Bog with a confused expression. 

“Girls?” 

Bog grumbled taking another drag off his cigarette. “Yeah, there was a girl in my room and another in Sunny’s room.” 

Brandy’s brows climbed up her forehead. “Bog! You have a girlfriend?” 

Bog put his cigarette out in an ashtray and growled. “I don’t know her…” 

“What was she doing in your bed then?” Brandy asked only to have Bog sigh loudly picking up his coffee and mumbling into it, “I don’t know.” 

Sunny came running back in, letter in hand. “Yeah, right down here…” He handed the letter to Bog, but everyone at the table leaned around Bog to read the letter. 

“It says, Dallas D'Al…” Sunny struggled with the last name. 

A soft feminine voice finished the rest. “D'Allesandro...Dallas is a nickname I picked up and my sister isn’t in the letter because she wasn’t supposed to come with me, but I brought her as my assistant.” 

All eyes turned to see Marianne standing in the doorway wearing a dark purple, sleeveless column dress that showed off her trim figure. She wore a dark green scarf tied around her slender throat that picked out flecks of green in her light brown eyes. Standing behind her was a pretty little blonde with short hair like her sister, but with light blue eyes. The second young woman was wearing a lemon yellow sleeveless shift dress, and both women were wearing kitten heels, their outfits completely inappropriate for the African weather and the plains. 

Marianne smiled. “Good morning. I don’t think we’ve met everyone…” 

Everyone at the table stood with Sunny who was smiling brightly, though his eyes were on the pretty blonde. “Well, I guess I met you both last night, but I’m Sunny.” 

Dawn put her hand out to him. “Dawn. You were funny last night.” 

Sunny took her hand, grinning. “I’m funny sober too.” 

“I’m Elizabeth Mueller, but everyone calls me Lizzie.” Marianne took the tall woman’s hand. “It’s a pleasure...I know that name...you have a brother don’t you, Kurt, race car driver?” 

Lizzie grinned. “Actually I’m the race car driver, but since they don’t let women race, I use my brother’s name. He gets all the press while I drive the car.” 

Marianne blinked in surprise as Lizzie shook Dawn’s hand. “So it was you in the crash?” 

Lizzie nodded. 

“I’m Brutus Lopez.” The big man reached across and shook Marianne’s hand, then Dawn’s hand. 

Sunny motioned towards Brandy. “This is Brandy, our boss and…” Griselda had just walked in from the kitchen wiping her hands on the apron she wore around her waist. “...this is Griselda, Bog’s mother. Though she’s really a mother to everyone here.” Brandy shook Marianne’s hand, then Dawn’s. “It’s a pleasure. Actually this place, these people…” She looked at everyone. “...worked for my father, but after he died…” She smiled, her eyes becoming slightly misty. “...anyway...we’re a family here.” 

Marianne smiled at her. “I’ve heard of your father.” 

Brandy looked surprised as Marianne added. “Anyone who works in the zoo community has heard of your father. He was a good man.” 

Brandy nodded, stepping back as Griselda stepped forward and took the hands of the two young women. “So you are the two young ladies who ended up in the beds of these two idiots.” 

Marianne and Dawn both blushed and laughed while Bog hissed, “Mam!” 

Griselda, undeterred, laughed. “First time Bog’s ever had a girl in his bed.” 

Bog groaned loudly, smacking himself in the face with his palm. 

Brandy giggled then motioned at Lizzie and Brutus. “If you two are done, I could use some help with the engine in the truck.” 

“Sure thing,” Lizzie said smiling and nodding at their guests as she followed Brandy out with Brutus, who tipped an imaginary hat in farewell, and followed. 

Sunny motioned at the table. “Would you ladies like some breakfast? Griselda is the best cook on three continents.” 

Griselda grinned. “I’ll bring some fresh coffee.” 

Bog took his seat again, the letter still in his hand. “So, ah...Dallas?” 

Marianne nodded as she helped herself to some bacon, eggs, and toast. Sunny smiled at Dawn, grabbed a plate, and began filling it for her. The blonde smiled at him with a rosy glow to her cheeks. 

“It’s a nickname I picked up when i was working in Dallas.” She grinned as she scooped up some of the egg and laid it across the toast. “I won a dare by riding a bull. One of the cowboys told me I was better than the local rodeo hero Dallas Hardin, so they started to call me Dallas. I only use it when I know the name Marianne might make someone think I couldn’t do a job because I’m a woman.” She looked pointedly at Bog as she put her fork in her mouth. 

Bog growled. “Being a woman has nothing to do with it--we just don’t need any more trouble around here.” He folded the paper and tossed it on the table. 

“Lizzie is a woman,” Marianne said smugly as Griselda came in carrying the fresh pot of coffee. She poured the dark brew into cups for Marianne and Dawn before refilling Bog’s mug. 

“Lizzie knows how to shoot an elephant,” Bog growled, then looked pointedly at Marianne’s outfit, even going so far as to bend over and look under the table as her shoes before sitting back up. 

Marianne scowled at him. “Maybe you should just wait and see what kind of girl I am.” 

Bog gestured with his head at her sister. “She got a crazy nickname too?” 

Dawn looked up from taking her bite of toast and shook her head around her mouthful before mumbling, “No.” 

Marianne smirked at him while cutting into the blood sausage. “You think I can’t do the job because I’m a woman,” she stated testily instead of as a question before she looked up at him, her eyes narrowed. “What about Brandy? She knows how to shoot an elephant?” 

“Brandy was raised here, she can shoot as well as anyone here and she can drive as well as anyone here.” Bog narrowed his eyes right back at her. “Can you handle a gun?” 

Marianne frowned before she answered, “No.” 

“Ever been hunting?” He put his elbows on the table, lacing his long fingers together and resting his chin on them. “Ever been to Africa before?” 

Marianne glared back at him before she muttered, “No.” 

Bog smirked at her and sat up straight. “Well, I’m sorry about the misunderstanding…” 

Marianne growled. “But you don’t have time to show an amateur around? Is that it?” 

Bog nodded. 

Dawn and Sunny frowned at each other, watching Bog and Marianne spar. 

Marianne reached down to the bags of photo equipment that Brandy had brought in the room earlier and rummaged around until she found what she was looking for. She came back up and handed Bog an envelope. 

“I would have preferred if you had wanted me and I hate to do this…” Her tone indicated that she didn’t hate to do this at all. “It’s a letter from the director of the zoo in Switzerland who hired me…” 

Sunny glanced at Dawn and whispered. “I think the boom is about to go off.” 

Marianne watched as Bog opened the letter. “They are going to be buying most of your animals this season and they sent me to get pictures of the catches.” 

Bog quickly read the letter muttering, “Boom…” 

He tossed the letter down and rose to his feet, towering over her, his blue eyes flashing with annoyance. “How long is it going to take you and your sister to get your pictures?” he asked with a growl in his voice. Marianne also rose to her feet and stood toe to toe with the tall man. She detected a slight accent, Scottish maybe and those blue eyes of his were stunning. He was annoying too, but she had a feeling she was going to enjoy annoying him as she answered with a small grin. 

“I suppose it depends on how long you take to catch them.” 

Bog growled again, which just made Marianne grin, but then he gave her a “look” before examining her outfit, giving her a quick up and down followed by another growl. 

“Funny work outfit. We’re leaving now.” 

“Give me five minutes!” Marianne gasped as her sister got to her feet too and raced from the room. 

Bog snarled, but Sunny interrupted. “I can wait for them Bog, won’t take me no time to catch up.” 

Bog turned his icy blue eyed stare on Sunny who frowned. “What? Something wrong?” 

Bog’s shoulders slumped and he threw his arms up. “I don’t know…” 

He turned and walked out of the dining room as Sunny stood there looking confused and muttered, “You don’t know...I don’t know...no one knows anything around here…” 

* 

Bog wandered into the other room where the guns were kept in a cabinet, though he didn’t see his mother follow him from the kitchen. 

Bog looked around aimlessly for a moment, clearly not sure what to do when he turned around and saw his mother standing behind him. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, a red kerchief wrapped around her head. She was wearing a pair of red petal pushers (no shoes as usual--she would only wear shoes going into town) and a simple white button down shirt and her apron. She was giving her son the look he had grown up with, the look that told him he had done something monumentally stupid and he was about to hear all about it. 

“What?” Bog asked with a frown. 

“Bog King, I can’t believe you talked to that pretty young woman and her sister like that,” Griselda growled in the same way her son growled. 

“What way? I mean, she and her sister are photographers! What do they know about catching animals? Or Africa? And did you see how the two of them were dressed? Like they were going shopping or something equally ridiculous!” Bog threw his hands up in the air. “I thought we’d be getting some guy who had been out here before, who knew how dangerous this job was, not some...some...fashion photographer!” Bog threw his hand out in the general direction of the dining room and wherever Marianne and her sister had disappeared too. 

Griselda walked over and smacked her son on the arm, the only place she could get since her son, like her deceased husband, was as tall as a damn Malaysian yellow meranti tree. 

“I know I raised you better than that and besides, she’s right. You don’t know what kind of girl she is. She might surprise you.” Griselda said then added. “And on top of that, she’s very attractive and single.” 

Bog blinked in surprise at his mother. “How on earth do you know that?” 

Griselda grinned at her son and pointed at the wedding ring she still wore even though it had been years since her husband’s death. “No wedding ring.” 

“UGH! Why would I want to get tangled with another woman after last time?” Bog threw his arms up in the air, knowing exactly where his mother was going with this, where she had been going for years. She wanted him to find a nice girl and have babies. 

He was about to tell his mother just what he thought about Marianne D'Allesandro and her stupid camera when Lizzie came into the room heading toward the gun cabinet. 

“Where are we going today?” she asked as she pulled a rifle from the cabinet. 

Bog grumbled, ignoring his mother and walked over to get his own gun. “Kilimanjaro I guess.” 

Sunny came in a few seconds later, camera bags over his shoulder and looking for his hat which he had left on a chair. 

Bog grabbed his own hat from the desk and a pair of sunglasses, though he stopped mid-motion and stared at Sunny in disbelief. “What are you doing? You going to carry their bags for them?” 

Bog narrowed his eyes at his friend. “Don’t you start in with spoiling those two ladies Sunny, no good will come of it.” 

Sunny looked confused. “What?” Sunny sighed. “Fine.” He set the bags down in a chair and headed outside after Bog’s mother yelled after him. “Be careful out there!!” 

Bog yelled back without turning around. “I always am!!” 

Griselda sighed and said quieter, “That’s what your father always said too.” 

She turned and shared a glance with Sunny who gave her a small smile which she returned before heading back to the kitchen to start cleaning up after breakfast. 

* 

Outside where several of the other members of the team, most of them all native Africans and people who Bog considered family. 

Several of them called out as Bog and the others came outside. “Jambo!” 

Bog nodded and waved, yelling back as he headed to one of several jeeps and trucks that were parked right outside the main house. “Jambo!” 

As he put his rifle into the back of the jeep, he glanced over to where Brandy and Brutus were putting supplies into the back of another jeep. “You all ready?” 

Brandy nodded. “Ready.” 

Bog turned and yelled, not really looking, but still expecting everyone to listen. “Let’s get underway! Come on! I ain’t waiting for any slowpokes…” He added the last on purpose, directing the statement toward Marianne and her sister...and Sunny who was leaning against one of the porch pillars. 

“Don’t you wait all day for them, Sunny,” Bog growled, pointing at the other man. 

Sunny dropped to his knees and bowed. “Yes master Bog….yes Bwana….” 

Bog slid his sunglasses on and gave the younger man the middle finger causing Sunny to laugh before he climbed into the jeep. The small caravan of two jeeps and two trucks loaded with people drove out of the compound. 

Sunny watched them go with a slight frown on his face before he turned toward the house and called out. “Hey uh, Miss Marianne, Dawn...can you hurry it up?” 

Marianne’s voice drifted out from inside. “Just a moment! Can you grab our stuff?!” 

Sunny stood still for a moment, looking down the path of the retreating vehicles before he grinned and ran back inside to grab the several bags that Bog had told him to put down before running back outside with them. 

He headed over to his truck, gently placing the bags inside and yelling. “All aboard the Sunny African express!!!” 

A second later Marianne and her sister came running out. They had both changed. Marianne had on a pair of brown boots, slacks--that she was in the process of buttoning--and a purple button down shirt. Her little sister came running after her in a light blue shirt, boots, and her black panties showing, with her pants were in her hand as she raced to keep up with her sister. 

Marianne stepped aside to let Dawn jump in first next to Sunny. As soon as she was inside the cab, Dawn started to pull her pants on as her sister climbed in after her. 

Sunny stared, his mouth hanging open. Dawn was wearing a pair of cute black panties. She put her leg up and started to pull the pants leg over her boot while Sunny stared, enamoured of how gorgeous Dawn D'Allesandro’s legs were... 

Marianne smiled at Sunny who was staring at her half-dressed sister. The young man definitely liked Dawn. Dawn had told her this morning all about her encounter with the cute drunk man from last night. It was clear to Marianne that Dawn not only found Sunny attractive, but funny. “Well come on, where are we going?” Marianne asked. 

Sunny started the truck, though his eyes were on the cute Dawn as she pulled her slacks on, arching her back and pulling them past her hips. He started the truck forward without looking just as 

Marianne yelled out. “Hey watch out!” 

Sunny drove the truck into a stack of wooden pallets. 

Dawn let out a squeak of surprise. 

“Ah Damn! Sorry…” Sunny blushed, glancing at Dawn and murmured. “Didn’t see that.” 

Dawn blushed and giggled at him. 

Marianne rolled her eyes at the both of them. 

* 

Marianne gazed out the window as Sunny drove. The African plains were gorgeous, seeming to roll out into the distance forever. Tall grass swayed in the breeze and she could pick out trees that she had read about before coming, acacia and baobab trees, their branches spread out like fans to soak in the sun and provide shade. 

She smiled. She had been dreaming of coming here and photographing the animals for a long time, and now she was finally here. 

Up ahead in the lead jeep, Bog was watching the grasslands through binoculars, looking for a target. When he finally saw one, he stuck a hand out the window motioning for everyone to stop. 

The vehicles followed, all pulling up around Bog’s jeep as he stepped out, still looking out at a small handful of giraffes. There were one or two wandering farther out from the rest. 

Bog was watching the animals while Lizzie sat in the driver seat. “How's the land out that way?” he asked without looking at her. 

Lizzie frowned, sucking on her teeth for a moment before she said quietly, “A few gullies, lots of hills, ditches…” She smirked at him. “Fun stuff.” 

Bog nodded at her and headed over to Sunny’s truck where a couple of the men had fixed the catcher’s chair to the front of the truck, so that their catcher could sling a catching noose over the animal’s head. There were a couple of the extra men standing in the back of the truck already, ready to help him. Marianne jumped out of the truck as Bog approached. 

“Can I stand back there…” She pointed at the back of the truck just as Brutus climbed into the back. 

Bog made a face at her. “You should stay in the cab. The land here is rough; you’ll get tossed around…” 

Dawn sat in the cab beside Sunny. Bog decided of the sisters, the youngest was clearly the smarter and less annoying of the two. 

“I like to be able to move around,” Marianne said as she turned and headed into the bed of the truck, not waiting for Bog’s response. 

Bog grumbled after her then yelled in Swahili to the men in the back of the truck who nodded at him. 

Marianne frowned at him from where she leaned against the roof of the truck. “What did you tell them?” 

“To take care of you,” Bog growled. 

Marianne responded defiantly. “I can take care of myself!” 

Bog glared at her. “Fine, tough girl. Take care of yourself.” 

He turned, replacing his sunglasses with goggles, and hauled himself into the catcher’s seat on the front of Sunny’s truck. He reached down and belted himself in, at the same time resting his booted feet on the long scoop of the chair. The seat was designed to let Bog put pressure on his legs and lean forward, while the seat belt keeping him from falling out of the chair. Granted, if the truck were to overturn, the seat belt keeping him attached would more likely end up in getting him killed than if he came free, but if he fell out of the seat while the truck was rushing along, he could also be run over. Either way he had to hope that Sunny’s driving kept him from dying. 

He trusted the younger man with his life, trusted his whole crew. 

He turned and yelled at Sunny. “You get me a big one, I’m going to kill you.” 

Sunny yelled back. “Gotcha!” 

Sunny accelerated and the truck took off, heading off the dirt road they had been on to the grasslands. 

Marianne frowned looking over at Brutus as the big man pulled some goggles down over his eyes. “Why not the big ones?” she asked. 

Brutus laughed. “Last time Sunny went after a big one, the animal nearly came through the windshield. Sunny crashed into an anthill with Bog attached to the chair…” Brutus pointed at Bog’s dangerous position. 

“Oh…” Marianne responded with a slight cringe. 

After they had closed the distance to their targets, Brutus leaned over the side around the cab and handed the long stick lasso to Bog who reached behind him without looking to grab it. Marianne watched with fascination as Bog held the long stick lasso, his short dark hair blowing in the wind from the speed of the truck, the other vehicles racing along beside them kicking up dirt and dust. The man looked fearless as he leaned forward, watching the animals and either yelling directions or giving hand signals. It was clear this group knew each other so well that little talking was needed. 

Marianne found that the ground was not simply bumpy, but was in fact a landmine of dips, bumps, hills, and more dips that set her teeth on edge. She struggled and failed to keep her feet under her as the truck flew over the ground, jumping and even flying over hills and dips. Within seconds, her mouth was filled with dust. The jeep driven by Lizzie caught the air beside them for a moment as she drove into a ditch only to fly over the other side. Marianne continued to try to keep her footing as the truck jumped and jerked, but she was finding the task nearly impossible. She fell on her ass more than once when Sunny hit a particularly bad bump. 

No one helped her up; she had to struggle to her feet on her own each time. 

Inside the cab, Dawn squeaked and held onto Sunny’s arm while he drove, causing the young man to grin. 

Ahead of them, several giraffes ran from the fast moving vehicles. 

Marianne did her best to keep her footing, watching the magnificent animals run from the vehicles while Bog, in his dangerous place at the front of the truck and with his lasso in hand, leaned forward, heedless of the danger he was in. She tried not to pay too much attention to the attractive man, but it was difficult. He was gorgeous, even as grumpy as he was and Marianne found him attractive. She even liked his grumpiness and his take-no-shit attitude. 

* 

Lizzie drove with skill, weaving and twisting her jeep through the spaces between the other giraffes which were now running in a panic, trying her best to separate them and keep them from interfering with Bog’s task. 

* 

Bog yelled and pointed at a young giraffe, smaller than the rest. “That one!!” 

Sunny nodded and turned the wheel, aiming the truck toward the young giraffe while Lizzie drove her jeep dangerously, trying to keep the other giraffes from getting in the way. 

As Sunny drove the truck toward the giraffe, Bog leaned out alarmingly far. He swung the noose out...and missed as the noose slipped out of place. 

“Fuck!” Bog snarled and waved for Sunny to stop. 

Sunny brought the truck to a stop as Bog turned awkwardly to hand the stick lasso back to Brutus. “Fucking noose slipped--let that one go.” 

Sunny nodded and picked up his CB to let Lizzie know what had happened. 

In the back, Marianne stood up. She had struggled to keep her footing, falling over onto her rear too many times at each hard bump. Brutus had only laughed, not offering to help her up once. 

Marianne sighed. She shouldn’t have said she could care after herself, she realized. These guys took that literally. 

“So what happened?” she yelled over the top of the truck once she was on her feet again, to which Bog only responded with a growl. “Nothing yet.” 

Bog turned to holler at Sunny. “Get me another one about the same size!” 

Sunny saluted him and started the truck moving again. 

They took off, Marianne falling backwards again, going right off her feet and cursing at the same time. 

Brutus laughed, looking down at her. “You might just want to stay there.” 

Marianne gave him a dirty look as she hauled herself to her feet again just as Sunny drove into the herd. The animals were magnificent, and this close, driving among them, Marianne was breathless. 

Inside the cab Dawn gasped. “They are so much bigger out here than in the zoo.” 

Sunny smiled at her. “Here they are in their home and they are bigger when you’re in among them.” 

Dawn nodded, her eyes wide watching the animals while still clinging to Sunny’s arm. 

Outside, Bog saw the one he wanted and he motioned with his hand to Sunny who nodded and spun the truck toward the giraffe. This time, separating the animal from the herd was easier. The young giraffe ran in the direction that Sunny drove. The young animal followed the path they wanted. 

Bog leaned forward, reaching toward the animal with the lasso, his eyes on the prize and with a quick, practiced movement, Bog lassoed the giraffe. 

“Slow it down!! Easy!! We don't want to hurt her!!” Bog yelled as Sunny started to bring the truck to a stop, easing off the speed gently. They didn’t want to risk knocking the animal off her feet and breaking any of her legs. 

Sunny brought the truck to a stop while the long stick lasso allowed the animal to run a little further while Bog kept a hold on her. The men leapt out of the truck, Bog unbuckling and racing after them; within seconds, their skills honed by years of doing this, the men all brought the young giraffe back around to face the truck, each one holding one of her legs as they held her and waited for the truck with the cage. 

The young animal let out a strange hollow groan of protest trying to kick herself free as Bog and the others held her, their arms around her legs and with the help of the ropes from the lasso, kept the giraffe from hurting herself. 

Marianne leaned over the top of the truck watching, her mouth open while her sister watched with her knuckles in her mouth from inside the truck. 

Bog looked up from where he leaned against the giraffe, both arms around the animal's long leg and grinned. He had heard Marianne’s cursing when she fell. 

“Got enough room to move around?” he asked with a smirk. "Or do you need a bit more?" 

Marianne yelled back, a smile on her face gazing at the handsome man. 

“Oh shut up.”


	3. Sonia

The drive back to the compound wasn’t nearly as exciting as the chase and capture, but Marianne enjoyed it just the same (despite her sister and Sunny making eyes at one another while they flirted.) The young giraffe was secured in the back of one of the trucks in a wooden cage. She felt bad for the poor thing, it must be scared. 

As soon as they arrived back at the compound, Marianne hopped out of the truck with a groan. Her back was stiff and her rear was killing her from all the falling she had done during the chase. 

Her sister followed her out as Sunny hopped out on the other side. 

“You okay?” Dawn asked as Marianne groaned. 

“Yeah, I’m fine--just feel like I was in a fight that I lost.” 

Dawn giggled. “You should take a bath and soak those bruises.” 

Marianne nodded as the two young women started to head inside. They had just rounded the front of the truck headed to the house when Marianne saw Bog. He was leaning against the truck, smoking a cigarette, talking to Brutus and Brandy. His face was stained with dust and dirt except about around his eyes where his sunglasses had been. He laughed about something, the smile transforming his face from attractive to knee-wobblingly handsome in a matter of seconds. She felt her heart skip a beat as she gazed at him. 

She narrowed her eyes for a moment before she walked over to him. Bog saw her coming from the corner of his eyes. He tossed the end of his cigarette onto the dirt and put it out with his boot before turning toward her. She marched up to him and stopped, putting her hands on her hips. 

Here it comes, he thought. 

“I wanted to thank you.” 

Bog gave her an incredulous look. “What?” 

“I wanted to thank you. I had a good time. I know it might not seem that way, but I did.” Marianne smiled at him before she glanced down at her shoes. “Look, I would like to stay, but I don’t want to stay here if you…” She looked pointedly at Bog before turning her head to take in Lizzie, Brutus, Sunny, Ian, and Brandy. “My sister…” She glanced at Dawn for confirmation before she continued. “...and I want to stay, but I want it to be because you want me here, not because of a letter or a threat, so I’ll let you decide.” She smiled at them each in turn before she headed inside with her sister. 

They all watched the two women go inside the main house, but it was Sunny who said with a grin because he didn’t think Bog was going to do it. “So who’s going to ask them to leave?” 

Brandy gasped. “You’re not, are you?” 

Ian shook his head. 

Brutus shook his head and threw his arms up. “Not me!” 

Lizzie frowned, rubbing her fingers across her lips. “I don’t know Bog, despite everything, she stuck with us, didn’t cry, didn’t whine.” 

Bog grumbled. “You know what, I’ll do it.” 

* 

Marianne groaned as she relaxed in the simple metal tub in the bathroom. Her bathrobe hung from a wooden peg in the wall, and the bathroom was filled with a flowery scent from the steam and soapy water. They had indoor plumbing here--which was a god send, she though--not the most sophisticated set up for a bathing room, but it got her a tub full of hot water, which was all Marianne cared about. She sighed again, closing her eyes for a moment and letting the hot water clean off the dust from the drive as well as ease her sore muscles. Too bad she couldn’t have a radio in here. Some music along with the hot water would do wonders for her sore body. 

After a few moments more of relaxing Marianne sank below the surface of the water to let the warm water cover her head before she popped back up and grabbed the soap to start washing the day’s grime off herself. 

She began to hum as she built up a thick lather on her shoulders and then her legs when the door to the bathroom, which was left open a crack, moved. Marianne looked over to the door, ready to let someone have the bar of soap in the face, when she saw a cheetah’s head poking through the crack in the door. 

For a split second Marianne didn’t move. The cheetah pushed the door open and walked into the bathroom with the lazy stride seen in any housecat anywhere. As the cheetah walked toward the bathtub Marianne could hear a strange rumbling sound coming from the large cat. 

Marianne stood up, splashing water everywhere and grabbed for her towel, at the same time she yelled. “HELP!! Someone!!” 

She held the towel to her torso as the cheetah stopped at the tub looking up at her, while the strange noise, that sounded like a purr, continued as the large animal just looked at her expectantly. When the cat put its large paws on the edge of the tub, it took every ounce of strength Marianne had not to jump, but then the purring cheetah began to lick her wet knees. 

“I don’t taste good, I promise…” Marianne hissed at the cheetah, which ignored her and continued to lick the water off her legs with its rough tongue. 

“HELP!” Marianne yelled again, tough the large predator seemed unaffected by Marianne’s yells while it continued to lick her knees. 

* 

With a cup of coffee in his hand, Bog was walking from his mother’s room where she had folded some of his clean laundry. He had grabbed a clean shirt and was thinking about heading out to the showers (a line of outside showers that were open for anyone to use them.) He had washed his face, but still felt dirty when he heard Marianne’s voice yelling for help. 

Bog stopped midstep looking confused. What on earth would make her yell for help like that, here at the compound? 

He contemplated just ignoring her, but he heard her yell again. With a sigh, Bog set his coffee and shirt down, following the sound to the bathroom. Probably a moth or a spider, he thought with a wry smirk. The door was open a crack… 

Bog frowned, chewing on his bottom lip staring at the slightly opened door. Was she taking a bath? Did that mean she was...naked? He frowned, rubbing the back of his neck in indecision when she yelled again. 

Bog gently put his hand to the door and looked inside to see Marianne standing up in the tub holding a towel to her naked body while Sonia, the compound’s pet cheetah, licked the woman’s knees. 

Bog blushed and swallowed a laugh at the same time. 

* 

Marianne was about ready to scream again when Bog appeared in the doorway. His face had been washed, the dirt scrubbed away she noticed, despite her desperate situation. 

When Bog saw Marianne holding a towel to herself and the cheetah licking her legs, he smirked. He tried not to focus too much on Marianne, not even the fact that she was wearing only a towel, just holding it to her front, not even wrapped around her body. Her bare shoulders looked creamy smooth and her bare legs were… 

He swallowed becoming slightly gruff as he struggled to keep his amusement at her predicament under control as he leaned against the door frame. “Problem?” 

Marianne looked at him with desperation. “Help me! It’s licking my knees! Do something before it eats me!” 

Bog nodded, suddenly looking grim. “I know just what to do!” 

He popped out of the room to return a couple of seconds later with a chair. 

“Back beast!!” he cried only half-heartedly using the chair to push the cheetah back. 

He hurried over putting himself between the cheetah and Marianne, holding the chair. “Back! Back you foul beast!!” Marianne was sure she detected a hint of humor in Bog’s voice. She gave him a dirty look and he had the tenacity to look over his shoulder and wink at her. 

The cheetah looked confused. The loud purring had not stopped as the large predator looked at Bog and the chair, giving the chair a half-hearted smack. Bog gently thrust the chair at the cheetah who batted at the legs again, but really didn’t look interested in the chair. 

Bog burst out into laughter. 

“I’m sorry Sonia…” Bog set the chair down gently and dropped to his knees on the damp tile floor. Marianne watched in wonder as the cheetah hurried over to him, bumping her head against Bog’s hands before rubbing the entire length of her body along Bog’s chest. 

Laughing, Bog rumpled the cheetah’s furry head and ears as the predator rubbed her head against his face and under his chin. 

“You are such a baby Sonia! You shouldn’t be in here. Now come on darling.” 

Marianne watched in astonishment as Bog led the cheetah out of the bathroom. That cat was a pet? A pet?! With shock Marianne realized that Bog had acted like...he had acted… 

She growled to herself grabbing one of the extra towels. She had only just dunked it into the tub water of her tub when Bog appeared a few seconds later. 

“That was…” Bog started to speak only to be cut off when a soaking wet towel hit him in the face before he had finished. 

“You are a jerk! I was really scared!” Marianne growled back. 

Bog chuckled, grabbing the towel off his face which had soaked his face and the front of his shirt. “Sorry...it was funny though, you must admit.” He grinned at her, his face dripping with water, which Marianne struggled not to notice, especially one drop that ran down his long throat and soaked into his shirt. 

“No it wasn’t.” Marianne protested then pointed at the door. “Out.” 

Bog chuckled, tossing the wet towel to the floor as he turned for the door. “Yes ma’am!” He gave her a quick mocking salute as he vanished through the door bringing it closed behind him. 

She heard his laughter as he retreated, which made her smile, an amused quirk to her lips. “Jerk...” she muttered, but that was followed with a laugh. 

* 

Bog was blushing as he left the bathroom. Sonia had waited for him, the large cat falling into step beside him as he headed toward the kitchen to grab the cat something to eat, his clean shirt and coffee forgotten. 

Bog glanced down at Sonia. “She’s pretty isn’t she?” 

The cat only gave him a look as if to say she knew this already. 

Bog snorted. “Yeah, and she didn’t complain about the truck ride...she’s tough. I'll give her that, and determined too. You think I should let her stay?” 

Sonia said nothing and Bog shrugged. “Fine, keep your opinion to yourself then.” 

The cat affectionately bumped into Bog’s leg as they walked. Bog laughed and reached down to ruffle the cheetah’s ears. 

* 

After Marianne had dressed, this time in a pair of purple flats, a sleeveless boat neck white top with a light purple and lilac floral prints, and a pair of dark purple capri pants, she felt refreshed, if sore. She made her way outside to the small garden-like area at the back of the compound where she knew there was some lounge chairs. 

She had just come down a small brick path, passing by a set of glass doors that looked into the main house. There she could see everyone standing around a table, drinking and eating cookies and talking, laughing together like one large family. Dawn was there, standing close to Sunny, the two of the talking together, their heads bent. Marianne hated to leave now, with Dawn clearly infatuated with someone that wasn’t one of those dull rich boys she usually went for. Marianne liked Sunny and thought perhaps he was a better match for Dawn, a hard working man with a sense of humor who was clearly under her little sister’s spell. Yeah, Marianne liked him much better than Dawn’s usually beau. She really wanted to stay for reasons of her own, wanted to be able to take the photographs of real men, working real jobs, and the glorious beauty of the African landscape and her animals. 

But it didn’t look as if she or Dawn were going to get what they wanted. Bog had already told her he wanted her gone, the letter was the only thing forcing him to keep her, but now that she had removed that as an obstacle, she was sure Bog was going to kick her out. 

She sighed and turned off the path and into the tiny courtyard when she saw Sonia spread out on one of the lounge chairs looking completely content. 

Marianne went still, frozen in place, but the cat didn’t seem inclined to move or make any attempts on her life. They watched each other for a few seconds, Sonia through half-lidded eyes, Marianne through wide brown ones before Marianne began to move, inching along slowly toward the cat. 

Marianne edged closer. “Hello Sonia…” 

The cat began making that strange, low purring sound. Marianne pressed her lips together, then walked a little closer, took a breath, then a little closer still. The cheetah did nothing but watch her and purr. Finally Marianne arrived at the empty seat next to Sonia and eased herself down onto the cushioned chair. 

The two of them sat there staring at one another. 

“Well, you don’t look like you want to take a bite out of me,” Marianne said softly. 

The cheetah responded with a loud purr followed by a long stretch of her back. 

“You’re just a big cat aren’t you?” Marianne said softly as she reached out tentatively for Sonia. The big cat watched her as Marianne laid her hand down on Sonia’s paw where Sonia had laid her paws against the arm of the chair like an invitation. Sonia began to lick the back of Marianne’s hand with gentle strokes of her rough tongue. 

Grinning Marianne murmured. “You’re just a big softy aren’t you?” 

Sonia purred and continued to lick her hand. 

That’s when Marianne heard the click of the glass doors leading into the house followed by Bog’s voice. “No thanks, I need to take care of this paper work…” 

A few seconds later Bog came through the door that led into the house and started to walk across the small patio area, papers in his hand when he saw Marianne and Sonia. 

He stopped in his tracks. She looked gorgeous Bog thought. The purple cloth brought out a shade of purple buried within her light brown eyes. She smiled at him and he felt a strange little tickle in his gut that he quickly stamped down. 

“You know you can go in with the others…” He pointed with the papers back at the main house. “Everyone is having a drink and my mother made some fresh shortbread while we were gone…” 

Marianne frowned at him. Might as well lay everything on the table she thought. 

“I don’t belong in there. I made a fool of myself today...and after a bath with a cheetah and a…” She looked at him, her cheeks flushing. “...a man in my bath, I think I just might sit out here for a bit.” 

“Your sister is in there. She doesn’t seem to be having a problem…” Bog added to which Marianne smiled turning as she rubbed her hand across Sonia’s head and began to ruffle her ears and fur petting the African predator as she would any other cat. “Dawn has a way of making herself wanted everywhere...besides, I think she likes your friend Sunny.” 

Bog nodded looking down at his papers. “Yeah, I think he likes her too.” He took a deep breath through his nose. “Look, about not belonging...They voted for you and your sister to stay.” 

Marianne started to thank Bog, the look of relief on her face was clear, only to stop and narrow her eyes at him. “You said ‘they’ did. You vote against me?” 

Bog pressed his lips together. “I did.” 

Marianne tilted her head at him. “Why? Do you hate me that much?” 

Bog ran his tongue over his top teeth and said. “Look...you can stay, just leave it at that.” 

Marianne watched as he turned and walked away leaving her outside in the lounge chair with Sonia. 

Turning to the cat Marianne murmured. “I can’t tell if he likes me and is just being grumpy about it or just dislikes me on principle.” 

Sonia purred and bumped her hand in response. 

* 

A few seconds later, as Marianne and Sonia relaxed into each other's company, the door opened again and Sunny appeared. He looked around, then grinned when he saw Marianne. 

“Hey, ah...I thought I saw you go by...can I talk to you?” The young man looked nervous. 

Marianne nodded. “Ah...sure...where’s my sister?” 

“Oh ah, she’s teaching Brutus how to do the Twist.” Sunny chuckled 

Marianne laughed. “Oh I’m betting that’s amusing.” 

Sunny laughed. “Yeah, but...uh, I wanted to talk to you about your sister…” 

Marianne quirked a brow at him, causing Sunny to blush. “What about her?” 

“Well I was wondering if I could ask her out?” When Sunny looked at her, Marianne noticed that his eyes were wide, his bottom lip caught between his teeth. The poor guy, but she was about to make it worse. 

“Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself first Sunny.” Marianne brought her leg up and wrapped her arms around her leg. “For example, what do you do here? Everyone else jumped out and was helping with the giraffe, but you didn’t get out of the truck…” 

Sonia, sensing that Sunny needed the chair, got up and wandered off. 

Sunny grinned. “Thanks Sonia. Well...I don’t go near animals with spots…” 

“Oh?” Marianne was intrigued. “Why?” 

“I also don’t go near animals with stripes, OR…” he really emphasised the “or,” “...if they are one color, like a lion, I don’t go near them.” Sunny smiled at her. 

Marianne frowned. “So, you….you hate animals?” 

“Nah, I love animals, just scared of them.” Sunny shrugged and smiled as if this made sense. 

“But today you drove into a herd of giraffes…” Marianne began, but Sunny interrupted her by saying. 

“What color is a giraffe?” 

Marianne stopped and frowned before she murmured. “Yellow…” 

“And what color’s a cab?” he asked. 

Marianne, with a smile on her face, answered, “Yellow…” 

“I just pretend they’re taxis in New York…” He grinned at her. “I used to drive a cab…” 

Marianne laughed. “A lot of you are crazy, you know that right?” 

Sunny grinned. “Well it helps to be a little crazy working here.” 

They both laughed together before Sunny asked. “You said you liked today...did Dawn?” 

Marianne nodded. “Yes, she did. She liked you quite a bit too. My sister thinks you’re funny.” 

Sunny blushed. “I’m glad someone does…” 

Marianne laughed, but then Sunny asked, his expression becoming serious. “What was it about today that you liked?” Marianne leaned back in her chair in thought. “The speed, the animals running wild...the landscape...Bog…” She stopped herself, her eyes widening before she hastily added. “...being grumpy…” She smiled. “You should really be asking Dawn her own opinion, you know?” 

Sunny blushed. “I know...I just...I wanted permission from her sister first.” 

Marianne smiled. “All right. I’ll give me permission on one condition.” 

Sunny’s eyes brightened. “Yes, whatever it is….” 

“Tell me about the people that work here.” Marianne brought her other leg up and wrapped her arms around both while resting her chin on her knees. 

Sunny looked thoughtful. “Well, you know about Brandy and Lizzie...let’s see...there’s Brutus...he’s from Mexico and was supposedly this really good bullfighter.” 

“Really?” Marianne leaned closer, fascinated while Sunny nodded. 

“Yep, let’s see. Then there’s Ian, he supposedly was trying to break into the movies, but there was some mysterious event…” Sunny wiggled his fingers. “...and Ian was chased out of Hollywood. I heard it was because some big time director's wife had a thing for him.” 

Marianne laughed with lifted eyebrows as Sunny continued. “And then there’s Pare…” 

“Ah, the man who you were all drinking about the night my sister and I arrived.” 

Sunny nodded. “Yeah, Pare is Lizzie’s man, though they don’t think any of us know they’re an item. We all do...hell the guys who work cleaning shit out of the animal cages know Lizzie and Pare are a thing.” 

“Why don’t they want anyone to know?” Marianne asked with curiosity. 

“Well, I think part of it is because Pare is a lot older than Lizzie and the other part is that Pare isn’t exactly single. He’s got a wife, but they haven’t seen each other in…” Sunny thought for a moment. “Six years? I guess neither of them saw any reason for a divorce, but I know Pare is giving it some serious thought--he wants to marry Lizzie.” Sunny grinned. “They are real good together, but ah, Pare and me, our job is to take care of Bog.” 

“Take care of Bog?” Marianne asked with amusement. “I would have thought that would be his mother’s job, but I would also have thought that Bog was a grown man and could take care of himself.” 

Sunny laughed. “Yeah well, part of it is because Bog is Scottish and has a wicked mouth and temper. Usually we get him to take it out on us, I mean me and Pare. We don’t really care because we both know he's mostly hot air, but if he takes his temper out on us no one gets hurt.” 

Marianne nodded and asked bluntly. “So, why doesn’t Bog like women?” 

“What?” Sunny looked offended on behalf of Bog. “Now you know that ain’t true because Lizzie and Brandy work here and get along just fine with Bog.” 

“All right, why doesn’t he like women like me and my sister? Though I’m thinking it's mostly me he doesn’t like.” Marianne narrowed her eyes at him. “Spill--or no dating my sister.” 

Sunny rubbed his bottom lip with his fingers. “Well...Bog thinks most women--especially those not born and bred here--are trouble. He thinks you’re trouble.” Sunny pointed at Marianne. 

Marianne made a face. “But I haven’t done anything yet.” 

“Yet it is what Bog worries about...and I don’t think he trusts most women, not after what happened to him.” Sunny leaned back in the chair and folded his hands over his chest as he rolled his head over to look at Marianne. “You know he was engaged once.” 

“Really?” Marianne looked back at Sunny who nodded. 

“Yeah, a girl he met while he was home in Scotland visiting family. Anyway, he brought her here, wanted to share his passion with her, his love of this place, this country, but she hated it here, hated this place, hated the animals, hated the people. She hated everything and wanted to leave, but she didn't just want to leave by herself, she wanted Bog to give all this up, everything that Bog loved, that made him who he is. She wanted him to give it all up for her. 

“Bog didn’t want to do that, felt that if she loved him, she should love all of him. He was willing to compromise, but he loves it here, loves his job, loves the people, the animals. Anyway, one day she flew her broomstick out of here and Bog hasn’t heard from her since.” Sunny sighed. “He wasn’t so much broken-hearted over her, he figured out quickly that he didn’t love her after that, but it broke him in other ways. I mean, before she left she cut into his heart with her tongue like a knife, laid all his insecurities bare in front of everyone....” He shook his head. “She really hurt him…if she hadn’t left on her own, I have a feeling Griselda would have turned her into cat food.” 

“Well that woman was a fool,” Marianne hissed, clearly angry at the woman she had never met. 

Sunny smiled. “You really do like it here don’t you?” 

“I do…” She smiled. “Maybe a little too much…” She realized she meant it. There was something about Bog that was drawing her in. Maybe it was the blue eyes, the grumpy, irritating nature of the man, his mother, the work he did, this place...she didn’t know, but she wanted to know more about Bog. 

Sunny lifted a brow at her. “Like it...Whoa...are you saying you like Bog?” 

Marianne made a face at him. “No...I didn’t say that. I just meant...I’m curious about him.” 

Sunny smiled, a knowing look in his eyes. “Well, how does he treat you?” 

“What do you mean? Like, is he nice to me?” She sat up with a frown. 

Sunny nodded. “Yeah, is he nice to you?” 

“No he isn’t. He’s brisk and earlier he...made fun of me by pretending Sonia was a wild cheetah, then he laughed at me.” She smirked. “Though I suppose it was sorta funny.” 

“So he ain’t nice to you?” Sunny asked. 

“Not really,” she replied only to see Sunny grinning. 

“You just might be in after all.” 

“What?” she asked with a frown creasing her brow. 

“All right, let me explain it this way: if a man gets burned by love, he isn’t going to want to be hurt again, right?” Marianne nodded and he continued. “So, if he doesn’t care about you he can afford to be nice because he knows he isn’t going to be burned, but if he likes you, if he feels an attraction, Bog’s gonna get scared. He don’t want to be burned again, so, he’s mean to you hoping you’ll step away from him. The more he likes you, the worse he’s gonna be. Make sense?” Sunny asked. 

Marianne nodded. “Yeah, yeah it does...so what do I do?” 

Sunny pressed his lips together before he answered. “Well, I can say this, if you are interested in Bog and you want to pursue something…” 

“I didn’t say that I wanted anyth…” Marianne began, but Sunny put his hand up stopping her so he could finish. 

“...if you wanted, I can tell you that you will have to make the first move, because he won’t.” Sunny stood up and stretched. “So, do I have permission to date your sister?” 

Marianne laughed. “Yes.” 

Sunny put his hand out to her which Marianne took, allowing him to lift her to her feet. “Now, let’s go inside and get a drink, and you have to have one of Griselda’s shortbread cookies.” 

* 

Following Sunny, Marianne came inside to the main room, filled with an eclectic collection of furniture and knickknacks. She found her sister sitting on the couch, laughing as Brutus performed the Twist alone. Brandy was sitting nearby, laughing as well while Ian sat on the arm of the chair next to her. Lizzie was sipping from a bottle of beer and watching Brutus with a grin. Griselda stood by the couch with a plate of cookies watching the big man too. 

Brutus yelled when he saw Sunny and Marianne. “Told ya I could learn any dance!” 

Sunny laughed. “Yeah you did, I owe you a buck!” 

As Marianne came in amongst, them Dawn smiled. “I was wondering where you were.” 

“Just taking a moment to myself,” the older sister said, sitting down next to Dawn. “And petting a cheetah.” 

Dawn looked like she wanted to ask more, but that was the moment Marianne noticed the old piano against the wall. 

“Is that tuned?” she asked excitedly as she hurried over to the piano--an old piano that had seen better days--resting up against the wall next to the large room's fireplace. 

Griselda shrugged. “I think so.” 

Marianne sat down and ran her fingers over the keys with a grin before she started to play. She began with something classical, drawing impressed looks from everyone in the room who slowly were pulled toward Marianne and the piano. After warming her fingers up, she started to play a tune that, after a few minutes everyone recognized as “Swanee River” the official state song of Florida. 

Marianne played it straight, then after a few moments, she started to jazz up the song by adding flourishes of her own. 

Sunny grinned and pulled out a harmonica from the depths of his pants pockets and joined in, following her lead on the piano as together they both jazzed up the song, adding their own bits and pieces to the song. 

While they played, Bog wandered back into the living room, stopping to listen and watch, his focus on Marianne. She was all smiles, her fingers flying across the keys or simply waltzing along the ivories following the ebb and flow of the music she and Sunny were making. 

Bog bit the side of his lip as he watch Marianne. She was more than simply beautiful, she was...well he didn’t know what she was, but he found that he liked looking at her, liked her smile, her spunk, the way she spoke, and her determination. 

He frowned. God damn it he thought as he turned away and left the room. 

His mother was the only one to notice. 

She frowned slowly at her son’s back. That poor boy she thought with a sigh. 

* 

The next day everyone was supposed to be busy doing work around the compound, but somehow everyone found themselves in the radio room with the radio that connected the compound to Aruska. Everyone (minus Marianne and her sister) knew they were supposed to hear from Dr. Sanderson about Pare’s condition and while Bog was supposed to be the only one in here waiting on the call, everyone had wandered into the radio room to wait. 

Eventually, the call came in. “Aruska control calling 505, do you read me? Over.” 

Bog lunged for the radio and grabbed up the handset. “This is 505. Over!” 

“There is a transmission for you from Dr. Sanderson. Over. Dr. Sanderson, go ahead. Over.” 

The voice was replaced by the slightly accented voice of Dr. Sanderson. “This is Dr. Sanderson 505. Can you hear me? Over.” 

Bog answered. “This is 505, we can read you loud and clear. Over.” 

Dr. Sanderson replied. “Bog, you’ll have Pare back in three, maybe four days. He’s doing well, getting his strength back. Over.” 

Bog smiled glancing around at everyone in the room who had heard. Lizzie had broken down into tears and Sunny had his arms around her grinning over the top of her head. Everyone else hugged in relief. 

Bog chuckled, then asked. “Is that Roland person up and around? I would like to speak to him. Over.” 

Dr. Sanderson sounded perplexed. “Well, he was discharged this morning. He was supposed to go straight to your place, he didn’t arrive? Over.” 

“No, he didn’t. Over.” Bog said, his smile dropping. 

“He left this morning with fifteen pounds borrowed from Pare. Over,” Dr. Sanderson said with slight confusion. 

Bog frowed. “Where did Pare get fifteen pounds? Over.” 

“Borrowed it from me...Over,” Dr. Sanderson said with weary humor. On the other end Bog chuckled, shaking his head. Pare could get anyone to loan him money. “So did Roland say why he needed that money? Over.” 

“Ah...no…” Dr. Sanderson replied. 

Bog sighed. “Just add it to our bill doc. Over.” 

The doctor laughed. “Already did. Over.” 

“Thanks doc. Over and out.” Bog put the hand set back as Lizzie sighed with relief. “Three or four days.” She swallowed more tears, but she was smiling. 

Sunny made a disgusted face. “So that fake Frenchmen took off? Darn it. We could have used him while Pare’s down, but this also stinks because what an asshole! Taking money from a man in the hospital.” 

Ian muttered. “Well good riddance. Better to work harder than work with the wrong kind of man.” 

Sunny had just turned and was heading out the front doors that were open against the African heat when he saw Roland walking through the gates and strolling along the dirt path that led to the main body of the compound. 

“Well, it looks like he found us,” Sunny muttered then yelled back into the house. “Hey Bog, the blood bank showed up after all!” 

Bog, who had started to go to the office turned at the sound of Sunny’s voice. He headed to where he found the younger man standing on the porch, along with Brutus, Ian, Lizzie and Brandy, all of whom had come out to watch as Roland strolled down the dirt path toward them, carrying a rifle and a backpack that was stuffed full. He strode with all the cockiness of a young rooster. 

Everyone leaned on the porch, watching Roland’s approach, Bog with narrowed eyes until he stopped just on the edge of the porch taking in everyone that was staring at him with what Bog thought was definitely a big shit-eating grin. 

Bog frowned. Roland was good looking, that type of good looking guy who could go one of two ways: he could be humble or he could be trouble, big trouble. 

“Pare said he’d be here in a few days. The doctor tell you I was coming?” Roland asked, looking at all of them. 

“She told us you borrowed money from Pare and left without a word,” Bog said, at the same time pulling out a cigarette and matches. 

“So you thought I skipped out, eh?” Roland asked with a sneer. 

Bog held the match he had just struck up to his cigarette, waiting until he had gotten the cigarette lit, took a deep drag on it before he answered. His blue eyes held Roland in place when he spoke. “You could have.” 

“Well, I needed the money to get my gun out and I figured if I didn’t have my gun, I wasn’t much use to you,” Roland said with just enough of an attitude to make Bog want to hit him, a good punch in the middle of the face. That usually knocked the attitude out of some asshole. 

“Well I guess the question is: are you any good with it?” Bog indicated the gun. 

“You want to find out?” Roland asked with another sneer. 

Bog was about to suggest that if Roland thought so highly of himself maybe he might want to shoot against one of their best, Lizzie, when they all heard Marianne’s voice. “Bog! I need to ask you…” 

Marianne hurried out onto the porch, her mouth open to speak when her gaze shifted from Bog to Roland. 

Her eyes widened in horror, but that quickly turned to red hot anger,as she stared at Roland and gasped. “YOU!!” 

Roland frowned, staring at Marianne and taking a step back. “Oh shit…” 

“YOU!!” Marianne yelled again as she marched off the porch toward Roland, driving the man back a few more steps. Roland looked as if he couldn’t decide whether to drop everything and run, or fight back when Marianne arrived right in front of him and slapped Roland across the face hard enough that the sound echoed through the entire compound. 

Bog couldn’t help the grin that slowly moved across his face.


	4. Hunts and Homecomings

Roland grabbed his face, the clear red print of a hand on his cheek. “God DAMN Marianne, that hurt!!” 

Marianne, wearing brown crop pants and a dark purple top, glared at him. By this time Griselda and Dawn had joined the others on the porch, the loud voices having drawn their attention. 

Dawn stood beside Griselda, looking adorable in soft shades of pink and groaned. “Oh no, not him!” 

Griselda gave Dawn a sideways look. “Him?” she asked. 

Dawn murmured next to her. “My sister’s ex-fiance, Roland Knight.” 

Griselda frowned and put her fingers to her lips. “Oh no is right.” 

* 

Marianne shoved Roland in the chest. “Did you follow me here?!” 

“NO!! Why would I follow you to Africa of all places?!” Roland yelled back. 

“Because you’re an obsessive ass, you don’t know the meaning of no. And I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth!” Marianne was nearly vibrating with anger. She had put her hands on her hips, pressing her fingers into her hip bones to stop herself from hitting him again. 

Roland glared back at her. “Look Marianne, honestly, I am just here looking for work. That’s all I’ve been doing for this for the last year, floating around from job to job, trying to do what you told me I should do, find out who I am and what I really want. Well, that’s what I’ve been doing!” 

Marianne had to admit, she hadn’t heard a peep about Roland since she called the police on him for lurking outside her apartment door a little over a year ago in the United States. 

Bog felt a little green spot of jealousy that was dueling with his sense of humor. So this guy was the ex-fiance of Marianne’s. Both irritating and interesting. He wasn’t completely sure about his feelings, though his mind was telling him he was jealous. 

Bog shook the thought away and called out. “We were gonna take him out there…” He pointed vaguely out at the African landscape. “... away from the compound and let him show us if he actually can handle that gun. If he can, we are gonna let him have Pare’s spot until he’s back on his feet,” Bog added taking a step back at the furious gaze that Marianne turned on him. 

“You’re going to hire him?” 

Bog frowned. “Well, only if he can shoot halfway decently…” 

Marianne turned her narrow eyed gaze back on Roland who had the good sense to cringe before she growled. “Well,” she said slowly through her teeth. “What are we waiting for then?” 

Bog shrugged and motioned for everyone to head to the jeeps as he started to walk toward one of them, pulling his sunglasses out of the breast pocket of his shirt. 

Marianne fell into step alongside Bog. “Care if I ride with you?” 

Bog shrugged. “No, I suppose not, but I thought you might wanna ride with your fiance.” 

He motioned over his shoulder to where Roland was hopping into the back of Sunny’s truck, trying to keep his expression neutral. Sunny was driving, of course, but Dawn had fallen into the seat next to him. Even from this distance by his jeep, Bog could see the smiles exchanged between Sunny and Dawn. 

As Bog climbed into the driver's seat he reminded himself that he was going to have to corner the shorter man later and find out what was going on there. 

“He is not my fiance and if you say he is one more time, I’ll sock you in the mouth too,” Marianne growled walking around the front of the jeep and hopped into the passenger seat next to Bog. 

Bog muttered as he put his put his fingers on the keys, “Yes fucking ma’am.” But there was a smile tugging again at his lips over her annoyance. He found himself happy that she wasn’t interested in the smug, good looking blonde with the fake French accent. 

* 

“So…” Bog glanced over at Marianne as he drove the jeep, rumbling along the dirt road. “...you wanna talk about it?” 

Marianne’s first response as she glared out the passenger side window was to say no, but glancing over at Bog, she saw that he was serious; he wanted to know her side of things. 

She pressed her lips together in thought and glanced out the window again before she spoke, turning to face him at the same time. He could see that her pretty face and her mouth were set in a grim line. Bog could see the glimmer of heartache in her eyes only because he had had that same look once. He didn’t care what Roland had done, he hated the man for hurting Marianne. His hands on the steering wheel tightened enough that his knuckles turned white. 

“We were engaged a little over a year ago. It was a whirlwind romance, the sort you see in the pictures all the time, a handsome guy comes into town, and sweeps the mousy girl off her feet…” 

Marianne shrugged while Bog wanted to protest that if she was supposed to be the “mousy girl” in this scenario, then she was dead wrong. Marianne wasn’t mousy at all, not by a long shot. She was drop dead gorgeous, courageous, and annoying, but not mousy. Instead, he said nothing and he kept his opinion to himself as Marianne continued. 

“Anyway, it wasn’t long after we were engaged that I found out he wasn’t just seeing me...he was seeing four other young women of varying wealth and looks and that he was engaged to two of them,” Marianne explained and then sighed, sinking back into the seat. “I was so in love with him, but after he broke my heart I realized that I actually wasn’t in love with him. I was in love with the idea of the handsome prince sweeping me off my feet…” She growled under her breath. “I was such an idiot.” She groaned and ran her fingers through her hair, making the short hairs spike up. “I think I was in love with the idea of being in love, but I guess if I’m honest with myself, I’m not really angry anymore at him...I mean, when it first happened, I was devastated, but I’ve learned over the last year that I don’t need someone like that in my life. I don’t need to be in love or be loved.” 

She smiled and looked over at Bog. “But that’s not to say I’m not open to finding love again.” 

For some reason Marianne’s statement made Bog’s cheeks flush red as she continued. “Roland didn’t just cheat on me either. He tried to change me too, stop me from traveling all over taking pictures, just doing the thing I love. After our breakup, I realized I need someone who loves me for who I am, not who they want me to be.” 

Bog nodded sagely having felt that particular sting himself. “Aye, it’s better to be alone than to be with someone who doesn’t love you fully for who you are. Faults and all,” he added in a soft tone. 

Marianne nodded, then waited a beat before she asked. “Any old fiancee skeletons in your closet?” Her question surprised Bog, who blurted out before he meant to. “Yes.” HIs affirmation was followed by a deep growl of frustration on his part. He didn’t like to talk about his private life--with anyone--especially pretty women he found distracting and annoying. 

“Wanna talk about it?” she asked softly. 

Bog was quiet as he drove, his eyes on the land ahead of him. The jeep bounced as he led the tiny caravan off the main road. “I was engaged once too, a lot longer in the past than a year, but it was a bit of the same. She hated it out here, hated everything about this place, the people, the job...it was like she was stabbing her nails into everything that defined who I am as a person and ripping those parts of me to shreds.” He shrugged. “Broke my heart, but, glad I found out before we married. I’ve learned if someone can’t love you and at least accept the things about you that you don’t want to change, then it isn’t love.” 

Marianne nodded, her voice soft as she stared at him. “Love is about acceptance and compromise.” 

Bog nodded. “And understanding.” 

Marianne smiled at him. “It’s nice to know we agree on that count.” 

Bog looked sideways at her as he drove, a slightly confused frown on his face. 

Marianne only smiled more at him. Bog muttered something that she was sure was a curse. 

* 

Bog led their small caravan off the dirty road, driving into the fields where the grass was low to the ground. He drove until he found an open area that lack rocks, or animals grazing too close to them. There was a large grassy plain around them, and nothing else but one large tree with thin branches that reached up as if in prayer toward the sky. Bog, along with Ian and Brutus, tied several empty beer bottles to strings at varying heights and distances. 

Bog wiped his hands on his legs. “There now. Roland, Lizzie, you start there…” He pointed at one of the hanging bottles. “...then alternate.” Bog stepped back waving a few of them back a little further before he turned. 

“All right, ready…” He stepped over to stand beside Mariane. Leaning down he whispered. “So is Roland any good?” 

Marianne shrugged. “Yeah, he is,” she admitted. 

Bog frowned, turning his attention back to the shooters. He felt some disappointment at her claim. 

Over by the hanging bottles, Brutus hurriedly gave each bottle a light smack which sent the bottles wobbling on their strings. 

“Go!” Bog yelled. 

Both Lizzie and Roland shot the glasses, neither of them missing. 

Bog smirked, then yelled out. “Okay, now shoot what’s left of them!” 

Together Lizzie and Roland shot at the remains of the beer bottles in the trees. After a few seconds they both stopped, the sharp retort of the rifles fading. Marianne’s ears rang slightly. 

Lizzie gave Roland a reluctant, but approving look. “You’re fast.” 

Roland grinned, but Bog walked over with a grunt. “Let’s see how fast you really are…” 

Bog walked over and grabbed a can from the back of the truck. He walked back to stand beside Roland and threw the can into the air. Roland lifted his rifle and shot, hitting the can three times, the last shot as the can hit the ground. 

Bog grunted. “Well, I guess we could find something for you to do.” 

Marianne frowned, but she had to admit, in the year or so since she last saw Roland, he’d become a better shot than she remembered him being. 

Lizzie narrowed her eyes at Roland. “If Bog is good with you being here, then I’m fine with it, but you do anything stupid, I will knock you flat,” she said with a soft growl. 

Roland nodded his understanding. “You guys don't have anything to worry about. I’m just here to work.” He glanced at Marianne. “That’s all I want.” 

Bog grunted in response before heading back to the jeep. 

Marianne narrowed her eyes at Roland before pointing at her eyes, then pointing at him in a clear threat that meant she would be watching him. 

Roland had the good sense to look away. 

* 

Later that afternoon, after returning to the camp long enough to gather some supplies, the caravan headed out again. This time Bog was driving the truck, with Marianne and Dawn squished tightly between him and Sunny. 

They had been driving for a few hours when Bog thought he smelled something, that distinct smell of a radiator not working enough to keep the engine cool. 

Growling, he picked up the truck’s handset and called Brutus in the jeep behind him. “Brutus, our engine is running hot.” 

They were driving close to one of the wells that was managed by the Maasai tribe, which was a god send, no one wanted to get stuck out in the wilderness without water. “I’m going to pull us over since the well is so close and get some water for the radiator. Why don’t the rest of you find some shade.” 

Brutus grinned, and replied, “Sounds good.” Bog drove the truck alongside a herd of donkeys and cattle. There were many herds, Marianne noticed and several people. Their dress consisted of sandals, and wraps that they wore around their bodies in bright colors; red, blue, or black. The women that Marianne saw also had elaborate beadwork headwear, earrings, necklaces, all marking these people as members of the Maasai tribe. 

Bog pulled the truck into a place out of the way and turned the engine off before hopping out. He reached in for Marianne’s hand while Sunny did the same for Dawn. 

He slowly let go of her hand to reach into the back of the truck and grab some canisters for water. Marianne grabbed a couple as well and the two of them began to walk over to see the well which turned out to be a series of stone walls, carved stairs, and trails that led downward to where the well sat, surrounded by stones. 

“What is this place?” Marianne asked with awe in her voice. Not only where their several herds of cattle, but also many people. Those that worked down at the well hauling water chanted, filling the entire cavern-like place with song. 

Bog smiled. “It's been here for thousands of years, no one knows who built it.” 

They stopped at the top looking down, and Bog pointed at the Maasai down below. “See how they are hauling the water up to the cattle? The cattle are important to the Maasai, They are food, material, ritual...those cattle are the central part of the Maasai survival, their economy, social structure, relationships, and religion. The cattle are their world. They treat their cattle better than most of us treat our own family. They also believe that their god, Ngai, entrusted the world's cattle to them.” 

Marianne glanced at Bog as she leaned her hands against the ruins of one of the stone walls. “You admire them don’t you?” 

Bog nodded affirmation. “I do. I think people like us could learn a lot from them.” 

Marianne smiled at Bog’s back as he headed along the well-traveled path down to the well where she listened as he spoke in fluent Swahili. 

Soon they were filling their canisters and were back on the road. 

* 

An hour or so later they were out on the plains again, this time chasing zebras. 

Marianne wore a pair of goggles over her eyes and was once more in the back of the truck, though this time she was ready. She had her legs wide and her knees bent to keep her upright as she watched Bog, latched once more to the small seat at the front of the truck with the long stick lasso in his hands, goggles over his blue eyes. His black hair whipped around in the wind and his sleeves rolled up partway up his forearms, showing off the lean muscles of his arms in a way that Marianne found quite distracting, she realized with a smile as Sunny drove the truck at a breakneck speed. It did not take long to see they were not going to be able to keep the same pace as the zebras. Bog threw the stick lasso down and Sunny started to slow, but Bog yelled out. “Don’t slow down!! Just hand me the line!” 

Brutus crouched down next to Marianne and grabbed some rope, handed it to her. “Hand this to Bog!” he yelled. 

Marianne nodded, a little confused, but she leaned over the side of the truck. Bog leaned back, his arm outstretched, his hand out. He smiled at her and Marianne tossed the rope. Bog caught it easily, turned back around, and started to work with the rope. 

Marianne yelled at Brutus to be heard over the sound of the truck’s engine. “What’s he going to do?” 

Brutus grinned at her. “Just watch.” 

But just as Brutus had said for her to watch Bog, Sunny drove the truck right into the shallow river throwing muddy water up, drenching Bog and the front of the truck. 

Bog growled, flinging water from his arms and wiping it from his chin. “God damn it Sunny!!” 

Sunny grinned. “Hey--cooler now?” 

“I’m going to kill you when we get back!” Bog shouted, but Sunny only laughed. Bog answered him by holding up a middle finger without looking back at him. 

Sunny chuckled at Dawn who sat snuggled up next to him. “He’s going to be terribly mad if he doesn’t get one.” 

Dawn giggled in response. “You didn’t help his temper by driving into the river.” 

“No, but he did need a cool off…” Sunny laughed as he drove and yelled out the window. “The Lone Ranger rides again!!” 

* 

In the back, Marianne watched Bog over the top of the truck as he finished the lasso and began to swing it over his head while Sunny zeroed in on one of the zebras, beginning to separate it from the herd. Her heart was pounding. Why was watching him swinging a lasso so sexy? She watched, mesmerized as Bog swung the lasso over his head just like a cowboy while Sunny edged the vehicle and Bog closer to the zebra… 

The lasso missed its mark. 

Bog cursed loudly as he pulled the rope back with expert speed and skill and prepared for another try. 

* 

Inside the truck, Sunny winced. “Damn, might want to put your fingers in your ear if he misses again.” 

Dawn giggled. “Okay, I’m ready…” she held one hand up the finger pointed at her ear which made Sunny laugh even harder. 

* 

Marianne watched with bated breath as Bog threw the lasso again... 

Bog let the lasso go, the hoop going around the zebra’s neck just as pretty as a picture. Marianne whooped and clapped in appreciation. 

Bog firmly he onto the rope as Sunny gradually brought the truck to a stop, but he glanced over his shoulder at Marianne with a grin on his face. She smiled back at him, for a second, the two of them staring at each other before Bog’s attention was drawn back to the zebra. 

“Easy!!” Bog yelled. “Easy!!” 

Sunny eased the truck’s speed down more, but before he had stopped Bog had unbuckled himself and leapt from the seat to run with the zebra he had lassoed. 

Bog kept the rope long as a Brutus and one of the compound's other workers hurried over, trying to subdue the animal, but the zebra was braying and buckling like crazy, not letting anyone come too close (or risk being struck by its hooves) while Bog kept a hold of the rope. 

Marianne hurriedly grabbed her camera as her sister handed it back to her. She started to snap pictures of the zebra, but mostly she found her lens focusing on Bog, his face dirt stained around the goggles he wore. Sweat stained the front of his shirt and made his lean, muscled forearms glisten in the sunlight. 

Roland and Lizzie pulled up in their jeep. They jumped out of the vehicle to take the rope from Bog who handed it to them before running over to help Brutus. The big man had gotten a hold of the zebra’s head and was doing his best to hold the animal both to stop it from escaping or hurting itself and anyone who got too close. 

Bog wrapped his long arms around the animal’s head, his hold firm, but gentle. The zebra kept struggling, moving back and forth, but the animal had stopped kicking. 

Bog murmured to the zebra. “Come on, calm down...we won’t hurt you…” 

The truck holding the wooden cage drove up, coming around and backing up toward Bog, Brutus, and the zebra. Several men jumped off the cage truck and Roland and Lizzie ran over while a few other men began pulling the cage into position so that Bog and Brutus could drive the animal up and into the cage. 

Marianne continued to snap pictures. 

It took all of them to get the animal into the cage and secure it, but when there were done, Bog groaned and stretched, cracking his back. 

“I think we all need a beer after that…” Bog laughed, turning to smile at Marianne who grinned back at him, snapping another picture, this time of Bog's smile. 

* 

The next morning Bog winced as he walked out onto the porch to take a cigarette. His mother was cleaning and had chased him outside, not wanting his ‘stinky cigarette smoke’ in her nice clean house. He grumbled as he walked and glanced down at his right wrist that was wrapped up with a bandage. He had sprained it yesterday and by midnight the damn thing had swollen. That along with his mother chasing him out of the house annoyed Bog. 

He had just pulled his cigarettes from his pocket when he saw Lizzie leaning against one of the porch posts, a cigarette in her fingers, staring off into the distance. 

“You okay Liz?” Bog asked, pulling out his matches and lighting his cigarette. 

Lizzie grinned at him. “You see that?” She motioned with her fingers that held the cigarette drawing Bog’s attention to the animal cages where he saw Dawn and Sunny bathing one of the hyenas. 

As Bog watched the two, his eyes opened wider. He had known that Sunny had taken a shine to the younger sister, but watching the two of them right now, Bog saw that whatever it was that was happening between the two of them was more than simple infatuation. 

Bog took a deep drag on his cigarette watching as they played with the hose and the hyena and muttered. “Fuck…” He shook his head taking another drag. “Why love? Anything but love…” 

Lizzie smirked. “So you see it too? That isn’t just a fling…” she muttered. “...that’s a lot deeper than a quick tumble in the bushes.” 

Bog nodded, narrowing his eyes. 

Lizzie smiled. “You don’t have anything to say to that?” She motioned at Sunny and Dawn, but Bog shook his head, turning to go back inside. “Just better not screw everything up, if we fall behind I’ll kill him...I’ll kill them both.” Bog disappeared into the house on those sinister words only for Lizzie to hear Griselda start hollering and saw Bog come running out of the house, his cigarette clenched between his teeth and grabbing his ass. Lizzie caught sight of a broom in the doorway and Griselda yelled. “Don’t you let me catch you back in here with that cigarette while I’m cleaning Bog King!!’ 

Bog stopped on the porch, rubbing his behind and turned to glare at his mother. “Fine!!” 

He caught sight of Lizzie from the corner of his eyes and shrugged. “She swings a mean broom,” he muttered causing Lizzie to laugh. 

* 

That evening after dinner, everyone was gathered in the main room. Marianne was playing checkers with Lizzie while Sunny and Dawn sat shoulder to shoulder on the couch paging through one of Dawn’s magazines. 

Griselda had just walked barefoot into the room with a fresh pot of coffee when everyone heard the sound of a truck honking. Bog followed his mother with a couple of plates of cookies in hand, though the horn nearly startled him into dropping the plates. 

Lizzie sprang to her feet, her boots slamming against the floor like an earthquake. “PARE!!” 

She shot out the front door with everyone following her. 

Outside Brutus hopped out of the truck and lying in the back was Pare, strapped to a stretcher. “Hey!!” He waved at everyone. 

Sunny laughed. “Pare!! You’re back and in your favorite position, prone and lazy!” 

Pare laughed, giving him the finger as Sunny, Brutus, Ian, and Bog grabbed the stretcher and carried Pare in while Lizzie nearly was on top of him, crying and hugging him. 

“I missed you guys.” Pare laughed. “Oh hey, those two are new…” Pare turned as much as he could while Bog and the others carried him inside. He caught sight of Roland a half second later and grinned. “Hey my blood brother!” 

He reached out and Roland grasped his hand with a smile. “I guess we are…” 

(Marianne frowned, impressed despite her instincts. The Roland she knew would never have even taken the hand of a man like Pare, a working stiff, let alone go out of his way to help save that same man’s life. Sunny had told her the story of Pare and the rhino, meeting Roland, and the little fight in the waiting room ending with Roland donating blood. Most of the story sounded like Roland--the smug jackass--except for wanting a job and donating blood for nothing except maybe getting a job. Bizarre, she thought. Maybe the man really had changed? Though Marianne wasn’t interested in a changed Roland--that boat had sailed. No, she had her eyes on a tall, grumpy Scotsman who didn’t want her here.) 

Bog and the others carried Pare through the living room. Pare pushed himself up on an elbow and yelled in protest when they continued through the room. “Hey! Where are you taking me? I need a drink--and not some fruit juice!” 

“To bed,” Bog stated only to have Pare groan flopping back onto the stretcher. “Not bed! I’ve been in bed forever!!” 

“Stop whining, you’re not nine...” Bog laughed while Lizzie hissed. “The doctor said you needed bed rest and so you’re staying in bed mister!” 

Pare groaned loudly again, but he was grinning as Lizzie kissed his forehead. 

He loved his adopted family. 

* 

After Pare had been settled and everyone had finished visiting, Bog came to see his friend. It was late and he knew Lizzie would be wanting to get ready for bed soon, but he needed a moment with his friend. Pare looked pale, but otherwise fine as he sat up in bed, pillows piled behind him, and wearing a pair of red and white striped pajamas. 

Lizzie was still lingering, but she kissed Pare’s cheek. “I’ll be right back, gonna go grab a quick shower, then we can get some sleep.” 

Pare reached up and stroked her short hair. “I missed you.” 

“I missed you too. You asshole. You get gored by a rhino again and you can sleep alone.” 

Pare smiled, putting his hand to his heart. “I promise to try and not let it happen again.” 

Lizzie laughed as she stood up. She grinned happily at Bog before she hurried out the door. Bog came closer and held up a bottle with two shot glasses that he had carried in with him. 

“You said you wanted a drink….” He grinned as Pare groaned with happiness. “Thank you! I’m so sick of water and fruit juice. It’s not natural.” 

Bog laughed, set the glasses down, and removed the top off the bottle of vodka he had brought. He filled the two shot glasses before pulling a chair over, turning the back to face Pare before he straddled the chair. He handed one glass to Pare as he draped his long arms over the back of his chair. The two men clinked their glasses together in a silent toast. 

Pare drank the burning alcohol with one swallow and gave a slight shudder of pleasure. “Man, that’s good.” Pare sighed as he laid back against the pillows. “All right spill. Tell me what’s going on?” Pare asked as he held his glass up for Bog to refill. 

Bog sighed and rubbed the back of his neck before he picked up the bottle and refilled his friends glass. “Well, we hired that kid Roland to fill in for you until you’re on your feet again, but I guess you knew that…” 

Pare nodded downing his drink and held the glass out as Bog leaned over and filled the man’s glass again with the clear alcohol and continued telling Pare what had been happening while he was gone. 

“We caught a giraffe and a zebra…” Bog spoke slowly as he thought about what they had done since Pare’s accident. He downed his own drink and filled it again, but he didn’t add more. 

Pare groaned, throwing a hand up in exasperation. “The women Bog! Tell me about the two pretty women! Geez…” 

“Don’t let Lizzie hear you saying they are pretty.” Bog chuckled, but Pare only smiled. “Lizzie knows that she’s the only girl for me. I can say they're pretty like I think lions are pretty, doesn't mean I want to date a lion. Besides, those two girls are babies, I need a woman.” Pare winked. 

Bog chuckled and nodded his understanding while hissing. “I thought you guys were supposed to be secret by the way? Lizzie’s tried to hold herself together and she’s been mostly successful, but, it ain’t a secret you two are together anymore.” 

Pare smiled. “Oh, I figure everyone knows by now, so I’m not going to pretend otherwise, especially around my family. Lizzie’s my girl, and I want the world to know it.” He took a sip of his drink, much slower this time before he repeated his question. “Now, who are they?” 

Bog nodded, refilling his own glass before topping off Pare’s. “The brunette is Marianne, the blonde is her little sister Dawn.” Bog smirked at Pare. “Marianne is the photographer, the one that was supposed to be a man from that damn zoo you were writing to…” Bog gave Pare a significant look before he continued and added. “...and her sister is her assistant.” Bog added, “You really should do some checking on the signatures you get. I thought she was a man.” 

Pare cringed. “Sorry, but wasn’t that the one signed by a Dallas something or other?” 

Bog nodded. “A nickname Marianne picked up.” 

Pare nodded then smiled as he asked. “Are either of them single?” 

“Really?” Bog looked exasperated. “You’re not even home an hour and you want to set me up with one of them? You’re as bad as my mother.” Bog downed his drink and refilled it. 

“Hey, we’d all like to see you happy Bog.” Pare held his glass out and Bog refilled it. 

Bog didn’t say anything for a moment before adding softly. “Sunny and Dawn, I think they are falling for each other.” 

Pare smiled. “Really? Interesting...and her sister?” 

Bog chewed the side of his lip before he grumbled. 

Pare tilted his head at Bog. “So, why’d you let her stay? I mean, I know how you feel about women…” 

“I didn’t have a choice,” Bog grumbled. 

Pare nodded with a knowing smile as both men finished their drinks. Bog stood, grabbing the glasses and the bottle and headed to the door. “Let me know if you or Lizzie need anything…” “Bog…” 

Bog turned with a frown. He could hear the concern in Pare’s voice, and whatever he was about to say, Bog knew it was serious. 

“About the rhino…” Pare said softly. “...I think we should leave it alone, don’t go after it again.” 

“Why? I mean…” Bog began, but Pare cut him off. “First there was that kid from Belgium, then Brandy’s father, now me...we don’t need a rhino Bog...promise me you won’t go after another one.” Pare rubbed his hands on his knees gently. “I’m beginning to think we’ve got a curse on us with that rhino…” 

Bog started to protest. “That’s just cause you got gored Pare…” 

“No, I mean yes. I’m scared of them, you’re scared of them, anyone around here with any sense is scared of them. No, it’s more than that...just let them go this season Bog.” 

Bog sighed and nodded. “Look, we’ve got a lot of other animals to get first...we’ll just focus on those first then.” 

Pare didn’t look happy, but he nodded. “Thanks.” 

Bog gave his friend a dismissive wave as he left. “Good night…” 

“Night Bog…” 

* 

Bog headed outside, lighting up a cigarette as he did so. He was starting to walk past the back doors that led out to the little courtyard when he saw Sunny and Dawn, just on the outside of the pool of light coming from the house. They were talking in whispers as Sunny handed her a box. Bog watched as Dawn opened the small package and gasped with delight just before she grabbed Sunny by the shoulders and pulled him close, kissing him on the mouth. 

Sunny looked so shocked Bog would have laughed if he wasn't trying to stay hidden, not wanting to destroy their moment together. 

Sunny put his hands around Dawn’s waist and pulled her closer, the kiss quickly turning passionate. 

Bog sighed, his heart feeling heavy. It wasn’t because he didn’t want Sunny to be happy, though he was worried about “love” ruining their work… 

No, if he was honest with himself, it was because he was jealous. He said he didn’t need anyone, and he didn’t need some spirited short hair pixie of a woman getting in the way, but… 

He did want Marianne. 

And he hated himself for it, for being so damnably weak. 

Bog turned and slammed his fist into the wall of the house, scraping his knuckles. He took a deep breath through his nose and let the breath out slowly before he went back inside. 

* 

The next morning was a busy one for Bog and his crew. They chased down and captured a Beisa Oryx, an Addra Gazelle, and an Addax. 

Marianne loved every minute of it! 

Being out in the wilds with the animals, getting to see their beauty, the landscape of Africa, the excitement of the chase, and most importantly--she realized--she got to watch Bog...watch him sweat, curse, and work...he was so god damn beautiful she thought that his presence was starting to drive her crazy. 

She had noted his knuckles were bandaged, but when she tried to ask about it, he nearly bit her head off. She had started to get angry, but then reminded herself about what Sunny had said...Bog didn’t want to get burned. 

How was she going to tell him that she didn’t want to hurt him? 

* 

Bog yawned and stretched his arms over his head as he walked into the main room after dinner. Lizzie was upstairs with Pare. Roland, Marianne, and Brutus were playing cards, while Ian read a book. (Bog was annoyed at how well Marianne and Roland were getting along. After that first day they hadn’t been exactly friendly, but they hadn’t been yelling and Marianne hadn’t attempted to kill Roland. The whole thought of her getting back with her ex made him sick to his stomach, but he kept reminding himself that he didn’t care and shouldn’t care. But seeing her smiling at the man made Bog’s blood boil.) Sunny and Dawn were nowhere to be seen, probably off canoodling Bog thought as he passed by the table where the papers lay that listed the animals they needed to collect. 

He was flipping through the papers when Lizzie asked, causing him to jump. “What’s next?” 

Bog growled. “Fuck, you almost gave me a heart attack! I thought you were with Pare?” 

“He’s dozed off,” she said before asking again. “So what’s next?” 

Bog looked over the papers. “We have an order for three buffalo, a male and a couple of young ones…” 

“How about we head to Kilimanjaro? I hear them moving through there…” Lizzie said as she rubbed her hand through her short hair. 

Bog nodded. “I think that’s a good plan...it would be a good first outing for Pare…” 

Lizzie smiled. “Agreed.” 

“Well let’s get enough stuff packed for at least a four day trip…” Bog began, but Lizzie grinned and piped up, “I’m on it. He’ll be thrilled!” 

Bog smiled and nodded as Lizzie hurried off. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning.” 

Pulling out his cigarettes, Bog lit up and walked over to Marianne’s table where Brutus had an ashtray at his elbow. He looked down at Marianne as he took a drag on his cigarette. 

“You should make sure you don’t wear anything red tomorrow,” he growled at her. 

Marianne quirked an eyebrow at him. “Why?” 

“People say animals are colorblind, but I don’t believe it. Don’t make yourself a goddamn target, it’ll make the job more difficult if Im having to rescue you from a fucking buffalo.” 

Marianne put her nose in the air. “Who said I would need rescuing by you? Besides, I was chased by a bull once…” 

Bog curled his lip at her. “You sure that wasn’t the other way around?” he said before he headed out of the room. Marianne watched him go, sticking her tongue out at his back. 

Why did he have to be so good looking and so damn annoying she wondered. 

As if reading her mind Brutus chuckled. “Bog’s a mix of passion and bad temper...but he likes you.” 

Marianne turned back around to face Brutus. “Sunny said the nastier he is to me, the more Bog likes me.” 

Brutus nodded. “Sounds right.” 

Roland frowned looking from Marianne to where Bog had disappeared through the doorway. “Don’t tell you’re into that ugly son-of-a-bitch are you?” 

Marianne narrowed her eyes at Roland. “Shut up, Roland. Bog isn’t ugly.” 

Roland made a face. “Maybe you need your eyes examined, the man is hideous.” 

“You know what Roland? You need to shut your mouth before you use up what good will you've somehow managed to acquire with me in the last couple of days,” Marianne growled loudly at him, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. 

Brutus growled at Roland too. “That’s my friend you’re insulting…” 

Roland looked around, realizing that everyone in the room was glaring at him. 

He put his hands up in surrender. “Look, I wasn’t trying to be insulting, just stating a fact.” Roland shrugged and added, “I mean I like Bog. He’s fair, doesn’t put up with shit, but he isn’t attractive and he’s old…” 

Marianne hissed. “Roland, you don't know what you’re talking about.” 

Brutus tilted his head. “Bog is thirty-five and you’re…” He looked at Marianne who, unlike some women she knew, didn’t have an issue with her age. “I’m twenty-five.” 

Roland grinned. “See? He’s old.” 

Marianne rolled her eyes. “No, he isn’t. He’s mature, while you are still a kid.” 

“I am not a kid.” Roland looked insulted. “But whatever. You can have any man you want Marianne, so why would you want…” He motioned at the empty doorway. “...that?” 

Marianne sighed softly. “You wouldn’t understand Roland, because you never understood me.” 

With that she stood up. “Good night everyone.” 

Everyone wished her good night as Marianne left the room. 

Roland rolled his eyes and sighed. “I just don’t understand women.” 

Brutus laughed. “Clearly.”


	5. Elephants and Goats

They all left early the next morning to head toward Kilimanjaro. Marianne, dressed in khaki slacks with a matching button down top, rode with Bog who was dressed similarly except his shirt was a shade of blue that matched his eyes, a brown vest, and a pair of tinted goggles hung around his neck. They rode in one truck while Dawn rode with Sunny in another truck. 

Marianne yawned, trying to hide that she was still tired. They had left before the sun had begun to rise, a little over an hour ago. She could see the sun in the distance beginning to paint the sky a soft, morning orange, chasing away the darkness. She yawned again, her jaw nearly cracking with the effort. 

Bog glanced sideways at her, his hands resting lightly on the steering wheel. “You know you could take a nap.” 

Marianne frowned with a small shake of her head. “No, I’ll be fine.” 

“No one will think less of you if you fall asleep you know,” e added with a little bit of a snarl. 

Marianne rubbed her eyes. “If you guys can get up and stay awake all day, then so can I. “ 

“You are a stubborn woman,” Bog stated in a matter-of-fact tone. 

Marianne smirked. “Being stubborn has gotten me this far…” 

Bog returned her smirk, his eyes on the road. 

They drove in silence for a handful of miles before Bog asked. “Your sister…” 

Marianne frowned, turning in her seat. “What about her?” 

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed how close she and Sunny are getting.” 

Marianne calmed herself. For a moment she had thought that maybe Bog was going to ask about dating her sister too. She wasn’t sure how she would have reacted except it wouldn’t have been good because she wanted him and the thought that he wanted her sister instead would have been a kick to the heart she wasn’t prepared for. Shifting in her seat, Mariane nodded. “I have. Is that a problem?” Bog reached for his cigarettes that rested in one of the pockets of his vest he wore. 

He balanced driving with pulling a cigarette out from the package. He was having a little bit of difficulty when Marianne snatched the package from him. He looked startled, his head snapping around. 

“Wha…” 

He snapped his mouth shut as Marianne pulled a cigarette out and placed it between her lips. There was something so sexy about her having that cigarette between her lips, he wasn’t sure what it was, but his mind did wander a tiny bit. 

“Matches?” she asked and Bog forced his mind to snap back as he reached into the same pocket to pull out a crumpled book of matches. She took the matchbook from him, flipped it open to pull a match free, and struck it to life. She cupped one hand around the match and held the flame to the cigarette for a few seconds, making sure the end was burning before she flicked her wrist, extinguishing the match. Bog fought between driving and watching her, swallowed hard as his eyes traveled down from her lips, then grazed over her throat. She plucked the now lit cigarette from her mouth and leaned over, her brown eyes meeting his blue ones for a moment. She was so close he easily noticed the vanilla and cherry scent coming from her. 

Marianne smiled as she held the burning cigarette up his mouth and waited. Bog stared back at her as he parted his lips to allow Marianne to place the cigarette between his lips with a wickedly coy smile on her pretty little mouth. 

He didn’t move, stunned as he was, and turned on at the moment to do anything but stare at her, the cigarette dangling from his lips. Watching her light his cigarette had been one of the sexiest things he had ever seen and he had no idea why. 

“Bog--the road,” Marianne said softly. 

Bog snapped his attention back to driving, pulled the wheel to the side, nearly driving off the road in his haste. 

“So, what’s your question?” Marianne asked while leaning against her door, smirking a little. 

Bog swallowed, nearly dropping his cigarette from his lips. He caught it between his fingers before grabbing the steering wheel. 

“Ah…” He stared out at the dirty road, bringing the cigarette up to take a quick drag to calm himself before he answered. “So...how serious do you think she is? About Sunny I mean?” 

It was Marianne’s turn to be startled. “Why?” 

Bog glanced over at her lifting a dark brow. “What do you mean why? Why am I asking? Cause Sunny is more like a brother to me than a friend, and because I can tell he has it bad for her. I don’t think this is anything so simple as a fling for him. I don’t want him to get hurt.” Bog growled a little more than he had intended. He took a longer drag on the cigarette, flicking ashes out the window. 

Marianne tilted her head, a soft smile on her lips. “That’s sweet of you--I mean to be concerned about Sunny.” 

Bog shrugged. “I know what it’s like to be toyed with. Don’t want that for him.” 

The emotion plain in his words hurt Marianne. He had really been hurt by this other woman...Marianne had never hated someone she had never met more than she hated Bog’s ex. 

“I think this is serious for her too,” Marianne said, glancing out the window as she spoke. “Dawn likes boys, likes a lot of boys. She has always made a boyfriend at nearly every assignment, but I've never seen her like this…” She rubbed her fingers against her knee. “Sunny is someone special to her. I’m not sure how she is going to handle it when it's time for us to leave. She hasn't asked me out right, but she’s made some veiled inquiries to me about what I would do without her.” She glanced over at Bog. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she asks to stay on here.” 

Bog frowned, his brow wrinkling in thought. He drove silently for a minute before he spoke again. “If she wants to stay, we can find something for her to do.” 

Marianne smiled. “Thank you Bog.” 

He glanced over at her and gave her a little smile. “You’re welcome.” 

* 

By late morning the caravan arrived at a small African village. Not far from where they parked, the large body of a dead elephant lay nearby. Marianne frowned at the sight, glancing at Bog. He looked angry, his brow furrowed and his blue eyes bright when he saw the dead animal. 

Once they parked, everyone exited the vehicles. Bog walked toward the corpse of the elephant, his long legs cutting the distance quickly. Marianne had to lightly jog to keep up with him. 

A man came toward them wearing khaki shorts, shirt, and a vest with a hat squashed down on his head. He was pale, with sandy blonde hair, holding a rifle over his shoulder, muzzle down. 

When Bog saw the man, he calmed a bit and waved. “Stan.” He motioned toward the dead animal. “What happened?” 

Stan came to a stop, meeting Bog and the others halfway. “Wild one, rogue elephant. Nearly killed a villager a couple of nights ago and then last night she rushed in here and attacked the home of a family. They barely got out in time before we were able to put her down.” Stan shook his head. “I hated to do it, but I had to shoot her.” 

Bog frowned looking over at the elephant’s corpse. “Real shame. Anything we can do to help?” 

“If you can radio headquarters, let them know I’ll be standing by here…” Stan began when everyone heard the trumpeting of an elephant. 

All eyes turned as a young elephant came charging out of the trees. 

“Aw, shit.” Bog hissed. “A calf...” He turned to Stan. “Did you know?” He motioned at the baby elephant. 

Stan shook his head. “Not until now.” 

Sunny frowned from under the shade of his hat, glancing over at Dawn in her khaki shorts and top, who looked on the verge of tears. He took her hand giving her a smile. “It’ll be okay.” 

Dawn nodded. “What will happen to it?” 

Marianne watched the little thing, roughly three to four feet tall, come rushing toward them, its overly large ears flapping. “The poor thing…” 

Before anyone could stop her, Marianne rushed over to the baby elephant. The elephant, as if sensing Marianne was who he needed to be with for help, rushed toward her, stopping to brush his truck against her face and shoulders while Marianne caressed his face. “Oh sweetheart…” she murmured. 

Bog groaned, throwing his arms out. “Marianne! What are you doing? He could hurt you!” 

“He doesn’t seem to be afraid of me…” She glanced over her shoulder as the baby elephant moved closer to her, rubbing his trunk over her face and arms. 

“Well you should be afraid of him,” Bog muttered as he walked over to her, the others following. 

Bog shook his head, turning to Stan. “I don’t envy your job.” 

Stan looked upset as Lizzie hissed. “Come on, I don’t want to watch this…” 

Roland frowned, looking at everyone. “Watch what?” 

Brandy frowned, looking upset, which upset Roland even more since he was confused about what was going on. 

Marianne asked the same thing as she stroked the baby elephant's cheeks. “What are you talking about?” 

Bog looked unhappy as he walked over to her. “That baby hasn’t been weaned yet. He’s hungry, which is why he isn’t afraid of you. In a couple of days he’ll be weak, an easy target for lions, hyenas…” Bog shook his head and looked angry as he said. “Best to take care of it now so he doesn’t suffer.” 

“You’re going to shoot him?” Marianne asked, her voice soft with disbelief. 

Roland turned to Brandy. “They’re going to shoot a baby?” 

Brandy laid her hand on Roland’s arm. “It’s not that simple…” 

“Not me, Stan. He’s the game ranger…” Bog pointed at the man who they had just met. 

Marianne looked angry. “Not a nice job. I’m not coming.” 

Bog walked over to her. “Now Marianne…” 

“I won’t come unless we take him with us.” She pointed at the baby elephant. “He’s still so small and we have plenty of room…” She was getting herself worked up, but the thought of letting that baby die made her gut and heart hurt. 

Dawn ran over to her sister. “I’m with Marianne--we can’t just let him die!” 

Bog growled. “Do you know anything about feeding and caring for a baby elephant?” 

“No, but...I’ll figure it out. He’ll eat when he gets hungry.” She glanced at her sister. “We’ll figure it out together.” 

“You shoot him, you have to shoot me too!” Marianne puffed her chest up and glared up at Bog who had come to stand close to her, anger and something else radiating off of him as he growled down at her, his voice low. “Don’t tempt me…” 

Sunny spoke up. “Hey, ah...there’s a lot of goats around here…” 

“Goats?!” Bog spun around to glare at Sunny. 

Lizzie nodded. “I hear goat milk is really nutritious…” 

“I’d be willing to milk a goat,” Roland added which caused Brandy to smile at him. Roland responded with an actual blush. 

Bog snarled. “Do you know how many goats we’d have to milk to feed that baby??!” He pointed at the elephant who had wrapped his trunk lightly around Marianne’s arm and was leaning his large head against her for comfort. “And how are you going to get him to take the milk?” He glared back at Marianne, but it was Ian who spoke up. “We could use posho or mealie flour mixed with milk…” 

Marianne gave Ian a questioning look and Ian smiled. “Posho is a type of porridge made from maize and mealie flour is sort of like corn starch. We could mix it with goat milk like a baby formula.” 

Bog glared at his group, looking exasperated. “Baby formula…” He heard chuckling and his glare shot over to Pare who was leaning on a cane, as well as Brutus who was trying not to laugh. 

“What are you two laughing about?” 

“Well I was just thinking…” Pare began which caused Sunny to laugh. 

“Oh no, Pare was thinking...you’re gonna lose Bog.” 

“Oh I am, am I?” Bog snarled. “So, you’re all for it…” He motioned at everyone. 

Sunny, who had moved over to stand with Dawn and Marianne shrugged. “Yeah, ‘fraid so Bwana…” 

Bog glared at each and every one of them before he threw his arms up into the air. “Fine!! Ye bunch of bampots!!” He gestured at Sunny. “I am going on to the camp, you can go get those goats and milk them, and then the rest of you can figure out how to get that elephant and all those goats in the goddamn cars. And in your spare time, the lot of you can figure out how to get the milk in the elephant!!” 

Bog stomped off. “I’ll see you there if you ever make it!” 

Marianne watched him stomp off. “Why’s he like that?” 

Sunny smiled. “Because he cares. He doesn’t want to watch that baby suffer…” He turned to look at Marianne and Dawn. “He cares a lot and the thought of watching that baby starve...well...it makes him sick.” 

Marianne watched Bog’s back as he stopped to talk to the ranger Stan again. She could see his shoulders were stiff. She smiled softly. “So, it’s because he cares?” 

Sunny nodded. “Yeah, he does.” 

Roland grumbled. “Has a funny way of showing it.” 

Sunny shrugged. “Bog’s not used to sharing his emotions and he likes to cover the more intense ones with anger. Now…” Sunny pulled his hat off. “Who wants to donate to the elephant fund so I can negotiate for the goats?” 

Everyone began pulling out their wallets and dropping money into Sunny’s hat. “While I’m doing that, maybe the rest of you can figure out how we’re going to get them all into the vehicles…” 

* 

Bog sat at a table outside one of the tents at the campsite. He was angrily drinking a beer and glaring at nothing when he heard the sound of vehicles approaching. He looked up to see the baby elephant riding in the back of one of the jeeps with Marianne and Brutus. A smile played across Bog’s lips when he saw them. One of the trucks pulled up with a small herd of goats in the back of it. 

Somehow, they had figured it out. The tightness that had settled in his chest eased a bit. 

While the others began to take care of the animals, Pare limped over to where Bog had just stood up. 

“You missed a lot of fun.” Pare chuckled as he came over, taking a seat in one of the camp chairs. 

“Trouble getting the baby into the car?” Bog asked as he walked over to one of the coolers and rummaged around pulling out a beer for Pare. 

“Oh that was easy, Marianne just climbed into the jeep and he just followed her, though apparently goats and elephants don’t mix well.” Pare motioned over at Marianne and the elephants. “It seems our newest addition has taken a real shine to Marianne.” Pare took the offered beer after Bog opened it for him and handed it over. 

Bog watched as Marianne had hopped out of the jeep while Lizze and Ian hurried around the vehicle to open the back before the baby elephant tried to jump out to get to Marianne. 

Marianne rushed over and called out encoughing the little elephant once they had opened the back of the jeep. “Come on Tembo…” 

The baby elephant came to Marianne easily. 

“You should get him out of the way while we get the goats and the milk.” Lizzie motioned in a vague direction that was away from them, to which Marianne nodded smiling as Tembo raced over to her. “Poor thing is probably hungry.” 

Lizzie turned her attention to Roland and Brandy who had wandered over. “Get some pails and pans from the camping supplies to put the milk in…” 

Brandy smiled and grasped Roland’s hand. “Come on.” 

Roland looked dumbstruck when Brandy took his hand, letting himself be lead off while Lizzie, Sunny, Dawn, and Brutus started to unload the goats, except that the moment the goats started to come trotting off the truck, Tembo saw them and let out a loud trumpeting sound, which caused the goats to panic. 

The goats scattered like marbles, racing through the camp in all directions while Tembo took off after them, Marianne giving chase. “TEMBO!! COME BACK!!” 

It was chaos. 

Goats and humans ran in every direction as Sunny and the rest tried to grab them while Marianne was chasing after Tembo, who seemed to be having a wonderful time chasing the goats. 

Bog, standing by the tent with Pare, started to laugh. He had never seen anything so amusing as the entire camp chasing goats while Marianne and her elephant raced around, Marianne yelling like a scolding mother while Tembo completely ignored her, too caught up in the fun of chasing goats. 

“God, wait until they try to milk the goats!” Bog’s laugh was full bellied. 

Pare snickered as he watched Lizzie dash by with a goat under each arm. “I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like this.” 

Bog was laughing so hard he was beginning to tear up as Sunny, with one goat under an arm, was chasing another goat, only to have a third cut in front of him and make the short man topple forward. He lost the goat he was chasing as well as the goat under his arm as he landed face first on the ground. Brutus had a goat under an arm, but he was surrounded by a circle of other goats who were running around the large man like they were playing ring-around-the-rosy. 

“Wish I had a camera.” Bog laughed, wiping at his eyes. “This is perfect.” 

Marianne and Tembo dashed in front of Bog who yelled out. “How’s motherhood treating you?” 

Marianne shot him a dirty look over her shoulder, giving him the finger before turning her attention back to Tembo. “Come on Tembo, leave the goats alone!” 

Bog laughed even harder. His eyes were going to kill him later he thought, but he couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed this hard. Watching Marianne, he felt a weird little hitch in his chest that felt warm and not at all unpleasant… 

* 

A couple of hours later, Marianne had Tembo tied by the ankle of one foot to a tree. 

The little elephant was not happy. 

Marianne rubbed the little elephant’s side. She could tell he was cranky, probably starving. 

On the other side of the camp the others had managed to wrangle all the goats. They had rigged up a rope across the open area of the camp space and had tied the goats. In a line along the rope nearly everyone was sitting on a box, crate, or ground, milking an individual goat. 

Bog came walking along the line with a slight smirk on his lips, watching his crew milking goats when he saw Sunny struggling with one of the animals. 

“Problem?” Bog stopped and asked, his features carefully schooled, but he was having a very difficult time not laughing as Sunny groaned and continued to struggle to get the goat to cooperate with him. “I’m trying to milk this damn goat, but...nothing’s happening!” 

Bog pressed his lips together, his hands on his lips as he struggled to swallow his laugh, but the perplexed look on Sunny’s face was hilarious. 

The tall man murmured, “Sunny, you got the wrong kind of goat there.” 

Sunny looked up from his struggles confused. “What?” 

“It’s a ram,” Bog stated. 

Sunny looked confused, as if animals were a new concept to him. “A what?” 

Bog, his voice having that hiccup of quality of someone struggling not to laugh said with only a little bit of a chuckle. “It’s a boy Sunny--a boy goat.” 

This time he couldn’t stop himself. Bog laughed as Sunny’s expression morphed from confused to appalled. “Oh shit.” 

Bog, still laughing, untied the ram from the milking line, letting the goat wander away before he grabbed the pail Sunny had been trying to use to gather milk and crouched down next to another goat. 

“Here, let me show you,” Bog muttered as he balanced himself, placing the bucket under the new goat and holding her steady with a gentle hand on her back while he milked her with his free hand. “Just have to be gentle…” 

Sunny bent over, his hands on his knees as he watched Bog begin to milk the goat with apparent ease. 

“So, you’ve done this before?” he asked, glancing over at his friend. 

Bog, focused on milking, nodded without looking at Sunny. “Yep. My grandfather in Scotland owned a farm. Use to work there when I was a kid. Learned to milk, birth cows, plant crops…” 

“That where you get your love of animals?” Sunny asked and Bog nodded. “Yeah, I suppose...” 

* 

Marianne glanced over to the milking station when she saw Bog walk over there. His tall, lean figure drew her eye. She liked the way he walked. The snug pants he wore highlighted his narrow hips and long legs. She liked his long legs, she realized, like the way they looked, the way he moved, his whole profile. She also noticed that he had rolled the sleeves of his shirt up, showing off his lean muscled forearms. That was particularly attractive to her. The man had nice arms, had a nice everything. 

She couldn’t hear what he and Sunny were discussing, but she could see the laughter on Bog’s face as well as hear him. Bog King had a nice, sexy laugh, the sort of laugh a girl could feel in her nethers. 

Marianne had been surprised when Bog had started to milk one of the goats. She remembered what Sunny had said about Bog caring too much about the animals. She was so focused on watching Bog that she had stopped rubbing Tembo’s side, distracting the baby, which had been calming the little elephant. 

Tembo, annoyed and hungry, let out a loud trumpet, while at the same time struggling to yank his foot free of the rope. 

Marianne yelped in surprise. 

Tembo’s loud trumpeting startled the goats. 

All of the goats let out startled bleats. The impulse to run caused them to try once more to scatter away from the threat, but because of the rope holding them in place, all they could do was jump and struggle. 

The sudden and renewed chaos caused several of the workers to have to jump out of the way or be knocked over by the goats. 

Bog wasn’t quick enough. His goat and those on either side of him bucked and jumped, letting off frightened bleats. 

Bog’s goat was particularly upset and yanked herself away from Bog, kicking out with her back feet. Bog let out a startled curse, throwing himself backwards to avoid being kicked in the face or chest by the goat, but he overcompensated and couldn’t move quickly out of the way from his squatting position. 

Instead, Bog toppled backwards. 

Sunny tried to grab for him to help, but Bog’s hand lashed out, grabbing a hold of Sunny and they both landed on their backs. 

When Marianne looked over, Bog sat up, the milk bucket on his head, his face and shirt covered in milk. She put a hand to her mouth to cover her laughter. The tall, handsome man looked ridiculous, soaked in goat milk, the bucket sitting on his head at a jaunty angle. 

Sunny sat up next to Bog, saw his friend, and started to laugh, full belly laughs that caused him to fall backwards once more. Bog muttered at Sunny, “Asshole.” 

* 

One they had the milk ready, the next step was figuring out how to get Tembo to drink it. They didn’t have any elephant size bottle around. 

Along with Pare, Bog was watching the others as Marianne and Brutus held Tembo still while Roland, Lizzie, and Brandy held up a hollowed out piece of wood. One of them poured the milk down the the hollow opening and the other two tried to hold the other open end to Tembo’s mouth. 

Tembo struggled against their grip; only a very small portion of milk was getting into the elephant's mouth. Tembo had finally had enough and broke free, which sent milk flying. Brandy lost her hold on the bucket, dumping more milk to the ground. 

Marianne groaned. “What are we going to do? We’re wasting milk!” 

Brandy rubbed a hand over her hair. “We can only get so much from the goats in a single day too.” 

“He needs to eat…” Marianne muttered, glancing over at Bog who shrugged. “I know, but this is up to you guys. Calm down and think.” 

Marianne gave him a dirty look. 

Lizzie rubbed a hand over her mouth. “Maybe we can use a radiator hose...shove it down his throat like a feeding tube…” 

Marianne shook her head. “You could strangle him.” 

Tembo trumpeted loudly as if in agreement with Marianne. 

“Maybe put a hole in a bucket…” Roland suggested as they all heard Tembo trumpeting with frustration behind them. 

Sunny shook his head. “No, you still gotta get him to drink it…” 

Tembo yelled again. Bog shook his head, sounding frustrated as he started to pace a little. “We really need to think of something fast…” 

Tembo let out another upset trumpet. 

“Maybe if he shut up for a bit…” Sunny began, but there was no answering trumpet. Tembo had gone quiet. 

Everyone turned around to see Marianne crouched beside Tembo with one of the buckets of goat milk. She was dipping her hand into the milk, scooping up some of the liquid then putting her hand into Tembo’s mouth. The little elephant was drinking the small offers of milk happily. 

Bog looked shocked as he walked over to her. “How..?” 

“Well I was thinking, you don’t feed a baby by shoving milk into their mouths or down their throats. You feed them, help them, sometimes by sticking your finger into the food and then into the baby’s mouth…” She smiled as Bog stopped in front of her. 

“That’s...impressive,” he said with a smile as Marianne looked up at him, their eyes meeting. 

Everyone, while impressed with Marianne, mostly paid attention to the exchange between Bog and Marianne. While the two shared no words, everyone could see clearly that something was passing between the two of them, even if they themselves didn’t see it. 

Sunny grinned followed by a jump as Dawn elbowed him in the side. She smiled at Sunny with raised eyebrows. Sunny returned her smile with a smirk. 

Bog and Marianne were falling for one another, even if Bog didn’t realize what was happening to him. 

* 

It was early evening and the sun was just starting to go down. Brandy came out of one of the tents, along with Dawn, both women wearing robes and sandals, towels over their shoulders. 

Brandy stopped to grab up some dried straw that was littered around the campground. 

Dawn frowned. “What are you doing?” 

Brandy, who was breaking the long, strong bits of straw into pieces smiled. “Making lots.” 

Dawn frowned, not understanding as she followed Brandy. 

The two women walked over to a table where Bog, Brutus, Lizzie, and the others were sitting and discussing where they should go to find buffalo in the area. 

Pare was sipping a beer as he said. “We could go to Longito--or Seven Sisters is on the way, might find them there.” 

Lizzie smiled at Pare, her hand resting on his good leg. “That’s a good idea.” 

Roland spied Brandy walking over to them and stood up. 

“Hey Brandy,” he said with a little wave. 

Brandy smiled at him. “Hi…” 

She held up her bits of straw. “Let’s see who gets to come along.” 

The others in the group seemed to understand what Brandy was talking about as she began holding out the pieces of straw, passing them around, first to Brutus, then Bog. 

She turned to Roland with a smile. “Go on.” 

Roland reached for a piece of straw. “What’s this for?” 

“Dawn and I are going down to the river to bathe. We can’t hold guns at the same time, so someone gets to come with us and hold the gun--keep us safe.” Brandy grinned especially when Roland’s face turned red. Her own cheeks blossomed with a soft pink blush. Dawn glanced over at Sunny whose eyes had gone wide, his cheeks also turning bright red. 

Bog narrowed his eyes and frowned at the two men. 

Pare motioned out of the draw when Brandy held out her hand of straws to him. “Not with this leg.” 

Lizzie grabbed one. 

Sunny blushed at Dawn as he murmured, taking a piece of straw. “Ah, we’ve been doing this for a while, since Brandy was a kid…” 

“Oh,” Dawn said, smiling shyly at Sunny. 

Before anyone could say anything Bog got to his feet. “I’ve got the smallest piece, I’ll be going.” 

“Fantastic! Let’s go!” Brandy wrapped her arm around Bog’s arm as he grabbed his rifle. 

No one said a word to contradict Bog, though Roland looked down. His piece looked quite small. 

* 

The river near the camp was a wide, lazy flowing strip of water that reached far into the distance on both sides. Trees lined either side with wide open spaces here and there. There were large rocks in the river that someone could sit on. Overall, Bog thought the space looked beautiful. 

Bog sat perched on a rock on the shore. The stone was tall enough that he could look out easily in all directions, one long leg dangling off, the other bent, his arms resting over his knee, his gun on his lap. There weren’t any crocodiles in this area--or very few--so Bog wasn’t really worried about the water, but there were plenty of other animals that Bog needed to worry about, though if the women made enough noise he doubted anything animals would venture close. 

He glanced over at Brandy and Dawn. They had their backs to him while they bathed, the two young women laughing as they discussed something he couldn’t overhear from this distance. Bog smiled and turned away, his gaze wandering out over the beautiful landscape. The sun still hovered above the horizon, but the sky had taken on the pinkish blue color of approaching evening, one of Bog’s favorite times of day. He sighed, smiling as he gazed out, the view calming him. 

Brandy was like a little sister to him and he had started seeing Dawn in the same light. He found nothing titillating about either young woman as far as he was concerned, though he could acknowledge that they were both pretty, which was why he was here. He’d shoot Sunny or Roland if either one of them wandered too close, the idiots. 

He wasn’t sure how he felt about Brandy showing interest in Roland, especially not after what Marianne had told him about the man. Though to Roland’s credit, the blond faux Frenchman had been working hard, getting along with everyone and keeping his opinions mostly to himself. The man seemed to genuinely like Brandy. He had exhibited none of that pompous, egotistical nonsense from their first meeting, at least none that Brandy had mentioned. (She was young, but the girl didn’t suffer fools, just as canny and discerning as her father had been.) And Bog had heard nothing from the other members of his family about Roland being crass or arrogant. He was willing to give Roland the benefit of the doubt for now. 

As for Sunny, Bog trusted him to be honorable, but he didn’t see any reason to put Sunny in the awkward position of having to watch the back of the naked girl he was falling in love with...at least not yet. 

He took a deep breath and reached into his vest pocket to pull out his cigarettes and matches. He placed the cigarette between his lips and stuffed the pack back into his pocket before he pulled a match free and struck it against the side of his boot. He held the flame to the end, taking a few seconds to get the cigarette lit before he shook his wrist, extinguishing the flame and dropping the extinguished match into his pocket. 

Taking a deep drag on the cigarette, Bog blew the smoke out slowly, his eyes sliding closed for just a second. The image of Marianne lighting his cigarette, then leaning over to put it in his mouth came to mind. 

He shuddered, a strange ache in his lower regions as he asked himself again: why had that been so sexy? 

He placed the cigarette between his lips again when he heard the girls calling out to someone. Frowning slightly, Bog glanced over at the young women just as he saw Marianne walking over, wearing a robe, sandals, and with a towel draped over her shoulder. She tossed her towel over a rock with the girls towels… 

Bog jumped, told himself to turn away, but for some reason his body wasn’t obeying any of his mental commands… 

Marianne flung open her robe. 

The cigarette fell from Bog’s mouth…


	6. Elephants, Buffalo, and Ostriches

At the sight of a naked Marianne--an image now seared into Bog’s brain where he would never get rid of it even if he wanted to--Bog grabbed up his gun and spun around on the rock. Only he spun too fast and the side of his pants caught on a small, sharp edge of the rock, causing a tear. Bog reacted by trying to stand, his boot slipped, and he tumbled backwards. 

Marianne looked up when she saw movement and gasped in surprise when she saw Bog on a raised rock not too far above them, but at the same time she saw him, she also saw Bog tumble backwards off said rock, gun in his hand. The man let out a funny little yelp as he plunged backwards into the river. 

The splash caused Dawn and Brandy to spin around with a yell, just as a blustering Bog broke the surface of the water. 

“God fucking mother fucking walloper!!” Bog yelled, his Scottish accent suddenly dialed up by ten as he popped up out of the water. His hair was plastered to his face and his clothing was soaked through. 

Marianne’s eyes were wide in shock when she saw Bog, his clothes plastered to him, wet hair in his eyes. It took her a second to register that it was Bog and that she was naked before she yelped and ducked down neck deep into the water watching as Bog wiped water and soaked hair from his face, but before he could fully see his surroundings he yelled again. 

“Fuck! Me gun!!” 

He dived back under the water, the young women watching in stunned silence. 

Dawn finally spoke, her voice laced with giggles. “Oh, I know what happened! I bet he saw you.” She looked at her sister in amusement. 

Marianne, who was now only visible from the nose up glared at her sister before raising her mouth above the water line. “What’s he even doing here?” 

Brandy was grinning. “He’s standing guard so we wouldn’t get eaten.” 

“Oh...that makes sense. But no one told me…” Marianne frowned. 

“Who did you ask?” Dawn asked then snickered when Marianne muttered, “Sunny.” 

Brandy frowned at the space where Bog had disappeared looking for his gun. “You think he’s all right?” 

Dawn began to frown too. “He’s been down there a while…” 

Marianne quirked an eyebrow. “He sure can hold his breath a long while…” 

“Maybe one of us should go check on him,” Dawn suggested. 

Marianne frowned. She had just started to stand up, her shoulders and chest above the water when Bog’s head suddenly burst through the surface holding his weapon aloft, gulping air before he shouted. “Found it!” 

He wiped his wet hair from his eyes only to find himself staring at Marianne. His blue eyes widened so that the whites showed all around his irises as he muttered loudly, “Fuck me.” 

Marianne blushed, but at the same time a smirk danced across her lips. She resisted the urge to ask if his exclamation was a request or not. 

* 

Late that evening, in a fresh (and dry) pair of khaki pants and a clean, short sleeve brown shirt, Bog sat in front of his tent sharing a drink with Sunny while the gun was laid out in pieces on a blanket in the hope that it would dry soon. 

Sunny took a long sip of his beer and relaxed back in a camper chair. “So Bog...why did you say you had the short stick this afternoon? Especially since I know you didn’t.” Sunny lifted a curious brow at his friend and boss. “Though I guess that worked out for you…” he added with a chuckle. 

Bog’s cheeks burned red. The fall had smarted, though not just from the pain; the embarrassment was a wound that ran deeper. He hadn’t been able to look Marianne in the eye the rest of the day. He looked away and focused on the fire near them. “I just thought it might be best since you and Dawn are growing close..and I didn’t want that Roland fellow going since he seems to have an interest in Brandy. And he still seems a bit snake-like to me.” The tall man shrugged. “Anyway, I seemed like the logical choice. I still see Brandy as a kid...and to me Dawn’s about the same.” 

Sunny nodded his understanding. Truthfully he was grateful because his affections for Dawn were running deep, very deep. 

He sipped his beer and added. “Though you don’t look at Marianne as a little sister, do you?” 

Bog turned back to Sunny. “Now don’t you go there…” 

Sunny laughed. “Don’t act coy around me Bog, I can tell there’s something there…” 

Bog grumbled. “Yer seeing things…” 

“Am I? Bog, why’s it so hard to admit you like her, eh?” Sunny asked before taking another sip of his beer. 

Bog shrugged. “I don’t...look Sunny I just...I’m not what a woman like her wants anyway. So there ain’t no point in even talking about.” Bog went back to brooding. 

Sunny frowned at his friend, wishing Bog wasn’t so damn stubborn. 

* 

Bog had walked off to catch a smoke and to check the perimeter of their camp, but Sunny knew his friend just wanted to be alone. He watched as Bog’s shape blended into the shadows as he stepped away from the camp's light, only the small red burn of his cigarette telling Sunny Bog’s location. 

He was just getting up, thinking he would go and find Dawn when he heard movement and turned to see Marianne coming his way. 

“Oh hey Marianne. Everything all right?” Sunny asked. 

Marianne stepped closer to their camp light. She was wearing a simple grey dress and flats, not exactly jungle or savannah wear, but since they were just in camp he supposed she was allowed to dress up a little. 

“Yes, um...I wanted to know if Bog had said anything else about Tembo.” Marianne wrapped her arms around her waist. 

“Nah, though you know, he wouldn’t have shot that little thing any more than you would have. Bog’s a lot of hot air, especially when he’s upset.” Sunny smiled at her and motioned toward the other camp chair. Marianne slipped into the chair with a smile. “How is the little guy?” 

Marianne pointed across the camp. Sunny turned and he saw the little elephant lying on its side. 

“He’s asleep,” Marianne said affectionately. 

Sunny smiled. “Cute little guy though I don’t envy you feeding him when he gets up in the middle of the night.” He laughed. “At least you don’t have to change his diaper!” 

Marianne chuckled in response. 

Sunny reached down beside his chair and opened a cooler, pulling out a bottle of beer then he handed it to Marianne. She took it gratefully, opening it with the opener he tossed to her. 

“So how are you and Bog doing? Everyone heard about the bath.” Sunny laughed softly which caused Marianne to blush. 

“I’ve never really seen Bog embarrassed before, did you know the tips of his ears turn red?” 

Sunny laughed. “God I wish I had had a camera when he came back to camp with you guys, soaked through and looking like an angry, wet cat!” Sunny slapped his knee laughing. 

Marianne giggled covering her own embarrassment with a sip from her beer. “Yeah, I feel a little bad. I mean he didn’t know I was going to be there...though I think he still wants to shoot me…” she muttered while taking another sip of beer. “Is he okay by the way? That was quite a fall he took even if it was into water.” Marianne looked concerned. 

“He’s fine... “ Sunny leaned back in his seat. “He’s tough as old shoe leather and him wanting to shoot you is a good sign!” 

Marianne muttered, “A good sign, hm? Hell if he starts to really like me, my life might be in danger.” 

Sunny laughed. “Oh come on, remember what I told you? Bog is not going to make any moves, he won’t say a thing about liking you. You…” He pointed at her with the top of his beer bottle. “...are the one who is going to have to make the first move Marianne.” Sunny glanced out toward the direction Bog had gone. Marianne followed his gaze. She saw the tall, dark shadow, followed by a small red ember. 

Sunny stood up. “Well, is your sister still up?” 

Marianne smiled at him. “She is and she seems to be waiting for a good night kiss from some small, dark, and handsome man…” 

Sunny slammed his hand to his chest as if he had been shot. “Ouch, short? Way to rub it in…” 

Marianne laughed at him as Sunny walked past her, giving her shoulder a squeeze. 

Marianne frowned, rolling her beer bottle around between her hands as she looked out toward where Bog was standing, smoking his cigarette. She rubbed her lips together before she finally set her bottle down. 

“Well, now is as good as ever,” she muttered to herself and took off at a brisk stride toward Bog’s shadowy form. 

* 

Bog sighed, letting the last of the smoke flow out of his lungs, bringing his foot up to put the cigarette butt out on the sole of his boot before he slipped the extinguished butt into his pocket to toss later. He put his hands on his hips and gazed out into the dark African night just as he heard footsteps behind them. 

“Hey Bog.” 

It was Marianne. 

“Marianne…” Bog said glancing over at her. He was thankful it was dark; he could feel the rush of blood to his cheeks and the tips of his ears. 

“I...uh...I wanted to thank you for letting me keep Tembo…” Marianne began. She put her hands behind her back and rocked on her feet. 

Bog lifted a dark brow at her. “Why thank me? You had everyone on your side.” 

Marianne continued to rock on her feet. “Well, then I’m sorry about the thing with the goats…” 

Bog shrugged. “Couldn’t be helped...though Sunny trying to milk the ram was worth it.” 

They both looked at each other and laughed before a slightly awkward silence fell between them. 

Bog cleared his throat and then muttered. “Look, I’m sorry about this afternoon…” 

“Don’t be...you didn’t know I was going to be there. I didn’t know you were going to be there. I should have paid more attention to my surroundings…” Marianne said. 

Bog blushed in the dark, biting his bottom lip before he motioned back toward the tent. “You want a drink…” 

“No, no..Ah...it’s nice that we can talk like this,” Marianne said softly. “I was a little afraid to come over here…” 

Bog frowned. “You were...then why did you?” 

Marianne’s heart started to thump harder. Sunny said she needed to make the first move if she wanted to see if there was anything between her and Bog...she should make the first move. 

Okay, She could do this. She was an adult woman and it was 1962 god damn it, she could make the first move! 

“Bog, how do you like to kiss?” Marianne blurted out, her eyes widening at her boldness. 

Bog turned to fully face her. “What? How do I like to kiss? What the hell are you talking about?” 

Marianne was blushing, but she felt her anger rising. Of course he knew what she was talking about he was just being an ass! “To kiss! How do you like to kiss? Slow? Fast? Do you like to kiss or do you like the girl to kiss you??” Marianne balled her hands into fists at her side. “So how do you like to kiss?” she asked angrily. 

“Well that’s a stupid question,” Bog, who had turned bright red, grumbled. 

“Why is it a stupid question?” Marianne growled back at him. “Haven’t you ever been kissed before?” She stomped around to face him. 

Bog glared at her. “Of course I’ve kissed before, what kind of doaty question is that?” 

“Then why’s it a stupid question?” Marianne demanded, resisting the urge to stomp her foot. 

Bog rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe stupid is the wrong word...silly...it’s a silly question.” He nodded and gestured as if the change of adjective made all the difference. 

“Why?” Marianne demanded again. She could feel the tips of her ears burning as embarrassment mixed with anger. “Why is it a silly question?” 

“Well because it's silly to be standing here talking about it!” Bog growled back at her. 

“Of course it's silly to be talking about it when we should just do it!” Marianne hopped up on her toes and wrapped her arms around Bog’s neck just before she pressed her lips to his mouth. 

Bog stiffened as hard as a board, his eyes wide in shock, but his hands had gone to her waist, resting just above her hips. 

Marianne pulled back after a moment, the light from the camp just barely caught her eyes. 

Bog sputtered. “We...there are people...” But Marianne whispered, still close to him, and he could feel the heat of her body, feel the tickle of her breath and smell the scent of her skin and hair. 

“Or do you like it slow, like this...” she purred, a slightly smirking smile on her lips. 

Marianne leaned in and gently pressed her lips to his, and then her tongue flicked against Bog’s lips. The heat Bog felt from her touch spiked and raced straight down his spine. His eyes widened, his grip on her tightened a fraction, his lips parted just a little in response. The tip of Marianne’s tongue brushed against his, causing the fire he felt to burn bright. 

He looked down at her in surprise while they kissed. Marianne’s eyes were closed, she looked beautiful and...like she was enjoying herself. That confused Bog a little. Why would she enjoy kissing him? Why was she kissing him at all? 

Marianne pulled away reluctantly, though she kept her arms around his shoulders, her body pressed against his when she smiled. “I think you like to kiss slow.” Her voice was low and filled with a husky delight. She gazed into his blue eyes, her heart beating quickly as a rush of warmth washed over her. She had been attracted to other men before, but those attractions were nothing like this. This was like a fire burning low in her groin that spread out in a warm and delicious wave that made her want to squirm with pleasure. She could tell kissing Bog was something she would never get tired of, ever. 

Bog swallowed, his hands still on her waist. “Look, I’m only going to take so much of this…” His voice lacked any real heat, just a mix of yearning and confusion. 

Marianne gazed back at him and he noticed her brown eyes were luminous in the pale light from the campsite. 

“What are you going to do about it” she asked with a soft smirk. 

Bog stared at her for a moment, a tiny debate going on in his head. What was he going to do about her? But before he could think himself into taking no action, Bog grabbed her close, letting his heart and gut direct his actions instead of his head. He turned her around to press Marianne up against one of the trees, his eyes catching hers for a split second just before he kissed her. 

Marianne made a soft startled gasp that quickly eased into a dee, moan of pleasure when his body pressed against hers in a pleasant way, his lips brushing along her mouth followed by his tongue slipping between her lips. She pressed herself against him with a kind of desperation, her hands going into Bog’s hair, holding onto him as if she were afraid she might fall. She returned his kiss with passion and vigor. Bog was a fantastic kisser, his lips were soft and warm, gentle, yet demanding. His tongue moved in slow, gentle caresses that echoed with that same demanding firmness that sent butterflies straight to her groin and made her knees go weak. 

Bog lost himself in the moment. All thoughts were pushed from his mind, the only thing he was aware of was her, was Marianne. He was keenly aware of the scent of Marianne’s skin, the pleasant flavor of her lips, and her tongue in his mouth slowly caressing and twisting with his tongue in a dance that felt both new and familiar, as if kissing Marianne was something he had always been meant to do. He glided his hands up her sides before wrapping his arms around her, pulling her closer still, and a spike of heat raced down his spine spreading through him like a wildfire. 

“Hey Bog!” 

Bog’s eyes popped open and he groaned, rolling his eyes. It was Sunny. Of course it was Sunny. 

“Oh shit,” Sunny muttered, seeing the two of them in the shadows, but it was too late to turn around and walk away. 

Bog released Marianne to see Sunny having already walked halfway to them. 

“Did I break something up?” Sunny asked, his tone sheepish. 

Bog growled angrily. “You managed. What the hell do you want Sunny?” 

Marianne smirked. “Yeah I thought you had gone to see my sister?” 

“Sorry it’s just...some of the men saw leopard tracks down by the river.” Sunny shrugged. “I figured you would want to know.” 

Bog’s face became grim. “Big?” 

Sunny shrugged. “Well you know the guys, according to them it's the size of an elephant…” He laughed faintly. “...but yeah, big.” 

Bog frowned, rubbing the back of his neck, stepping away from Marianne as he began to pace a little in thought. “Well, we need a big one. I better go talk to the boys.” 

Bog glanced at Marianne, an embarrassed smile on his face. It was clear he wanted to say something, but had no idea what to say. Instead he turned and headed back into camp. Marianne watched him go, smiling as she reached up to gently touch her lips with her fingertips. 

Sunny smirked at Marianne. “So…” He pointed after Bog then back at Marianne. “How’d you get that started?” 

Marianne blushed, but she was grinning. “I just asked him how he liked to kiss.” 

Sunny blinked. “You just asked him how he liked to kiss? Just...like that?” 

She nodded. 

“And you were just finding out when I showed up?” he asked with amusement to which Marianne nodded. 

“Next time I have a problem, can I come to you?” Sunny asked at the same time that Bog yelled out. “Sunny are you coming??” 

“Coming!” Sunny chuckled waving at Marianne as he hurried off after Bog. 

* 

The next morning, Bog and the others had set up a cage in the trees near the river with a live chicken inside. Before the coffee had even been served for breakfast, they had the leopard secured. 

Later that afternoon, they were out hunting buffalo. 

Marianne watched from inside the truck driven by Sunny, her sister beside her as Bog, hidden in the tall grass, watched the large herd of African buffalo grazing not too far in the distance with his binoculars. Everyone was tense, waiting for Bog’s signal. 

They didn’t have to wait long. 

Bog motioned, his long arm appearing above the grass. Sunny hit the grass, racing up as Bog ran for the truck, grabbing onto the side and hauling himself easily into the back. He grabbed the long stick with the lasso and Sunny gave chase while Lizzie and Roland drove along in the jeep herding the animals. 

Marianne had the window seat and watched as Lizzie drove her jeep up alongside the buffalo they had separated from the group, driving the animal closer to Bog and the truck. 

Bog was leaning out at a dangerous angle while yelling. “Careful Sunny!!” 

That was when the buffalo hit the truck with its horns. 

Marianne yelped in surprise though the buffalo hit near the back, closer to Bog. Dawn shrieked, but she covered most of it by slapping her hands over her mouth. The buffalo hit them again, then managed to get out from between the truck and jeep, taking off at an angle away from them. Sunny hit the gas and gave chase. 

They came up to the buffalo, who had stopped and turned, ramming its horns into the side of the truck again. Now the buffalo was angry. It kept attacking the side of the truck, slamming it’s dangerously pointed horns into the side, the side where Bog stood. 

Marianne kept looking into the side mirror, trying to catch sight of Bog, resisting the urge to stick her head out the window. 

Lizzie and Roland drove up just as Bog hooked the buffalo around the horns. 

The buffalo was struggling as Bog handed off the stick lasso to Brutus and a handful of the other men, and started to grab some ropes. Lizzie and Roland pulled up in the jeep, parking just a little distance from the buffalo. 

Bog yelled at them. “Grab more head rope!” 

Brutus grunted as he and the others struggled with the buffalo who rammed it’s horns once more against the truck. Dawn let out a squeal of fright. Marianne wrapped her arms around her sister’s shoulders and pulled her close while Sunny kept a death grip on the wheel. 

Just as Lizzie had grabbed up the rope, Roland, his eyes going wide yelled. “Shit! He’s loose!” 

The buffalo, as if drawn by Roland’s shout, ran straight at the jeep and headbutted the vehicle in it’s front grill before taking off. 

Bog snarled. “Fuck! Sunny let’s go! Don’t lose him!” 

Sunny spun the truck around, illustrating his skills as a driver. Within moments, he caught up easily with the buffalo. 

Bog had the stick lasso again and was leaning out from the bed of the truck, and this time he got the loop around the buffalo’s head. 

Bog grinned in triumph even as Sunny slowed the truck down only to have the buffalo wheel around and slammed its horned head into the front of the truck. 

Sunny chuckled as the truck rocked. “Damn, our insurance rate just went up.” 

Dawn, her eyes wide, glared at him, before she broke down into peals of laughter, which prompted Marianne to laugh too. 

Bog was out of the truck with Brutus and a couple of the other men. Bog had a hold on the rope and was using all his strength to keep control of the animal's head as the truck holding the crate for the animal sped up. 

As Bog struggled to hold the big animal, Marianne was watching him from the truck, licking her lips while she gazed at his sweat glistened forearms, the beads of sweat rolling down his exposed throat, and the play of muscles in his arms… 

“Hurry up, we don’t want this guy to get a second wind!” Bog yelled. 

A couple of the men hurried around to the back of the animal to tie it’s back legs together to prevent it from kicking. Bog and Brutus had pulled the buffalo close to the side of the truck where three large tires hung just for this sort of capture. The buffle grunted and huffed, slamming its horns into the truck’s side while Bog leaned on the rope on one side and Brutus on the other. The other men quickly got the crate down off the truck and pulled the latch open while Bog and the others turned the animal around, pulling and tugging on the rope to direct the animal inside the sturdy crate. 

Marianne released her sister and grabbed up her camera, nearly throwing herself out of the truck now that the animal's horns were pointed in the opposite direction. She started snapping off pictures (doing her best not to focus exclusively on Bog.) 

The buffalo was still putting up a fight. 

It took every single one of them to pull and push the buffalo into the crate until finally the buffalo was inside the crate and they were able to drop the door on it, at the same time dropping the ropes. 

Everyone let out a cheer. 

Bog groaned, wiping sweat from his face before he leaned over putting his hands on his knees. 

“Fuck me…” 

Marianne had stopped taking pictures and walked closer while the buffalo grunted and stomped inside its crate. 

“You all right?” 

Bog looked up at her and a grin spread across his handsome face. “That's the easiest one we ever got.” 

Marianne blinked in surprise before she started to chuckle. 

Bog’s grin turned into a laugh as he stood up and wiped his sleeve across his forehead. 

* 

After the capture of the buffalo, they pulled camp to head back to the compound. The vehicles had to cross the wide river on the way home. The water was deep, coming up to just under the windows, but the vehicles were built for driving under these conditions and cut through the water with relative ease. The truck was in the lead with Lizzie and Roland following close behind in the jeep, when the jeep suddenly stopped. 

Lizzie frowned and tried the engine again, but the jeep only made a low sputter. She groaned reaching up to rub the heels of her hands against her eyes. “Well, we’re stuck.” 

She looked over at Roland. “I’ll get the pull cable…” 

Roland, nodded grabbing up the rifle. “Okay, I’ll keep a watch out.” 

The river was home to crocodiles and possibly hippos, maybe even snakes; the dangers were very real even if the river looked fairly quiet. 

While Lizzie shoved herself through the river water to the front to grab the cable and begin to pull it toward the waiting truck, Roland kept his eyes on the water. He frowned. Lizzie had grabbed the cable, her back to the jeep when Roland saw movement right behind her. 

“Fuck! Watch out Lizzie!” Roland yelled at the same time that he brought the rifle up and fired into the water. 

Lizzie jumped and spun around. “Shit!!” 

Now floating belly up in the water was a crocodile, a rather big one. She stared at the reptile for a moment before smiling at Roland. “Thank you.” 

Roland smiled, clearly proud of himself, but instead of crowing about his kill he simply nodded his acceptance of Lizzie’s thanks and went back to watching for dangers. 

* 

Later that night after dinner, while Griselda cleaned up with the help of Sunny and Bog, Lizzie poured a glass of brandy for herself and another for Roland who was sitting in a chair with his eyes partly closed. He looked like he might doze off at any moment. 

Lizzie glanced over at Pare who was resting with his leg up, his eyes completely closed, before she smiled affectionately and walked over to Roland, handing him the other drink she had poured. 

“I wanted to thank you again for this afternoon,” she said. 

Roland’s eyes opened as he took the offered drink. “You don’t have to thank me.” 

She smiled and eased herself down on the arm of his chair. “I don’t like crocodiles, especially in the water.” 

Roland smiled sipping his drink. “Me either.” 

They were both quiet just as Brandy came walking through the room. She was wearing a simple beige box skirt and white blouse. She looked young and fresh, pretty as a flower Roland thought. 

He swallowed nervously (an uncharacteristic feeling for him) when he saw her. 

“I could use some help…” she asked the room in general though her eyes strayed to Roland. “The baby leopard isn’t eating, so I’m going to get some milk and eggs...” 

Roland watched her go as she walked by and toward the kitchen. 

Lizzie smirked watching Roland’s expression. “You should go help her.” 

Roland frowned, breaking his gaze from watching where Brandy had gone to look up at Lizzie. “What?” 

“You should go help her,” Lizzie said in a firmer tone. 

“I don’t know...Bog doesn't really like me being around her,” Roland began, but Lizzie punched him hard in the shoulder, hard enough that Roland winced and grabbed his wounded shoulder with a rather pathetic sounding yelp. 

“Don’t worry about Bog, I’ll handle him for you if I have to...but if you like her...” Lizzie motioned with her hand. “...go help her. I’m pretty confident Brandy likes you.” 

“You think so? I just...I don’t want to mess it up...like I did with Marianne.” Roland frowned. “I know she doesn’t believe me, but I am sorry for what I did to her…” Roland stared down into his drink. “I was such an ass to her.” 

Lizzie sipped her own drink and nodded. “Well, it’s good to recognize you were an asshole, that’ll help you not make the same mistakes with Brandy. Though if you do hurt her, Bog and I’ll make sure no one ever finds your body.” 

Roland’s head snapped up to look at her. 

Lizzie smiled at him and Roland realized it was not an idle threat as Lizzie bumped his shoulder. “Now go help her.” 

He stood up and set his drink down, glancing at Lizzie who smiled and motioned him to move before he hurried off after Brandy. 

Lizzie shook her head and muttered, “Idiot.” 

Pare opened his eyes from his position on the couch smirking at her. “Look at you, encouraging him--and I thought you hated him?” 

Lizzie stood and made her way to Pare, dropping down beside him. “Maybe I’m hoping he’ll screw up so I can feed him to the lions? Ever think of that?” 

Pare laughed. “Now that sounds much more like the girl I love.” 

She laughed and bumped his shoulder playfully. 

* 

The next morning after breakfast Marianne dressed in white shorts and a pale lavender top. She sat in the front room inspecting her camera equipment while Dawn and Sunny played a game of cards nearby. Lizzie and Pare were sitting on the couch, Pare dozing with his head resting in Lizzie’s lap while she absently stroked his hair. 

She could hear Brutus in the kitchen with Griselda, the two of them talking about something that had them laughing loudly with each other. 

Marianne looked up as Bog, looking attractive in khaki slacks and a light brown shirt, the sleeves of which were rolled up, walked into the room looking annoyed. 

He stopped in the middle of the room so he could glare at everyone equally. “All right, who left the ostrich pen open?” 

Sunny frowned looking up from his cards. “What? Again?” 

Bog nodded and motioned with his thumb over his shoulder. “They’re all out in the yard right now…” 

Dawn giggled, setting her cards down. “Ostriches?” 

Sunny, Bog and Brutus, who had wandered into the front room when he heard Bog, all went out into the yard while the rest gathered around on the porch to watch the three men trying to wrangle three very large, very uncooperative ostriches. 

The largest bird of the group, the male, became annoyed and decided that the focus of his annoyance was Bog. Marianne giggled as Bog yelped and spun, just barely avoiding the large bird who rushed him while Sunny and Brutus tried to draw his attention. The two smaller females stayed along the edges waiting to see the outcome of the fight. 

The bird charged Bog who danced out of the way and yelled. “Ye fucking walloper!!” 

Marianne covered her mouth snickering as the bird, clearly offended, took another charge at Bog. 

Griselda, who had wandered out from the kitchen when she heard the sounds of a commotion, wiped her hands on her apron, and laughed at her son who was running and dodging the charges of the male ostrich with grace, but still looking extremely silly. 

“I keep telling Bog that bird understands him.” She shook her head. “He needs to stop cussing at it.” 

* 

Sunny waved his arms over his head, standing by the females. “Hey big boy!! I’m flirting with your girls!” 

The ostrich turned and saw Sunny standing with the females and took off like a shot. Sunny yelped, spinning to run only to trip over his own feet just as the bird zero in on him. He fell and rolled onto his side, his hands up to protect his face, but the large male ostrich apparently decided the small man was no threat after all and left him alone. 

Sunny sagged with relief. 

Bog yelled waving his arms over his head. “Hey ye ugly twalley-washer! Come and get me!!” 

He spun around as the angry ostrich gave chase, with Sunny and Brutus running after the two of them, Sunny trying to herd the two females along at the same time. 

Marianne giggled watching Bog run at full speed across the yard while being pursued by the angry ostrich. The man’s long legs allowed him to move quickly. She pulled her camera up and began to snap pictures as Bog led the big male ostrich on a chase around the yard before he headed to the animals’ pen. The bird chased him inside the pen, Bog spun around quickly, running out of the pen, the bird spinning around ready to give chase, just as Sunny chased the females inside and Brutus slammed the pen door shut and locked it. 

Bog was laughing as he dropped his hands to his knees. “Fuck me…” 

Sunny laughed. “I can’t remember the last time I saw you run like that!” 

Brutch chuckled. “The last time his mother was after him, Bog ran just like that…” 

Bog laughed and swatted at Brutus who easily ducked, all three men laughing together. 

* 

That afternoon Dawn followed Bog out to the animal pens to take a few more pictures. Bog, Sunny and Lizzie were going to be taking care of some of the animals’ medical needs today and Dawn was curious to see what they were going to be doing. She had no idea where Marianne had wandered off to. 

Sunny disappeared while Bog and Lizzie grabbed some supplies and headed over to a rough wooden table that was set up in a corner surrounded by the animal pens. 

A few seconds later Sunny returned carrying a dik-dik in his arms. The small creature was shaking, her large brown eyes looked frightened, but not so scared that Dawn thought the deer would try to bolt out of his arms. 

Sunny set the dik-dik on the table while Bog picked up a pair of pliers. 

“What’s wrong with it?” Dawn asked, the pyers upsetting her, but Bog only smiled. “Thorn in her side…” he said before he went to work, using the pliers to yank the thorn out. The little deer barely made a sound. As soon as the thorn was removed, Sunny, with Lizzie’s help, set about cleaning the wound. 

Bog was just about to walk out of the little pen they were working in when he saw Marianne… 

Except she wasn’t alone. Following close behind her was Tembo...and another baby elephant. 

Bog blinked in surprise before he growled. “What the hell is this?” 

Marianne grinned walking over to the pen. “Well...I was taking Tembo down to the stream for a bath and I found this one…” She shrugged, but her smile was infectious. “Aren’t they nice...a matched set!” 

Dawn squealed. “Ooooh look at them! Two baby elephants!” 

Marianne grinned at her sister. “Now Tembo has someone to play with!” 

Bog groaned, rubbing a hand over his mouth before he growled. “It takes twenty goats to feed one of them…” 

“Oh Bog, stop it...you’re going to make a fool out of yourself.” Marianne smiled at him. 

Bog blustered. “I’m a fool now?” 

“Just listen...I hired a young boy to buy me some more goats and I’ve hired him to help with the milking...it'll be fine.” Marianne leaned on the pen’s gate grinning. 

Bog stared at her until he finally groaned and threw his arms up into the air. “Fine, whatever!” 

Marianne laughed. “Dawn, wanna help me bathe them? Maybe we’ll just go to the yard and use the hose?” 

“Sure!!” Dawn was out of the pen in a flash following her sister. 

Sunny giggled. “Wow Bog, you really won that argument.” 

Bog growled. “Someday Sunny…” He pointed a finger at his friend who only laughed. 

Bog finished up with the dik-dik and stepped out of the pen. Just a little way ahead he saw that Marianne and her sister had stopped by one of the long yard hoses. Marianne had turned the hose on and was spraying water at the two baby elephants who seemed to be enjoying playing with the spray of water. 

Bog stopped, watching Marianne as the baby elephants played in the water, one of them lying down as the water formed a puddle under them. Marianne laughed, spraying the babies with the water, dropping down on her knees as both elephants decided that the puddle was perfect for playing in. Dawn squealed coming over to run her hands on the babies’ wet sides. 

Lizzie and Sunny had just followed Bog out, the three of them supposed to be on their way to the bird pen when they stopped on either side of Bog to watch Marianne with her elephants. 

“She’s really good with animals,” Lizzie commented. 

Sunny nodded glancing at Bog before he murmured, “I bet she would make a great mother someday…” 

Bog gazed at Marianne, watching her play with the baby elephants, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Sunny knew that Bog wanted to have children someday, but after what happened with his fiancee, he knew his friend had written off ever being a father. But now… 

Bog pressed his lips together trying not to smile, but an image of Marianne rose up in his mind, a couple of dark haired children next to her, washing the elephants together… 

Bog felt that little flame of hope in his chest burn a little brighter.


	7. Mama Tembo

Later that night Marianne stepped out of her room into the cool African air. It was a beautiful night and she thought a walk around the compound would be night, better if she could find Bog somewhere wandering about. 

She had just stepped out, dressed in clean clothes after a bath (bathing baby elephants left her dirty, wet and surprise, surprise, smelling like an elephant.) She had slipped into a pair of tan capri pants and a light lavender, sleeves boat collared linen shirt and some simple slip on sandals, her short hair still damp. When she came out near the small outdoor sitting area Marianne was surprised to see Sunny standing by himself. She could hear music from inside the main house from the record player accompanied by some live drums, and as she walked by the open doors she could see Brandy dancing with Roland, the two of them laughing as Roland spun Brandy around. Marianne pressed her lips together. She wasn’t jealous, just worried...though watching Roland with Brandy she could see the difference in him from the man she had known before. She also saw Brutus inside, playing a set of congo drums in time with the music while Dawn sat beside him clapping her hands while watching Roland and Brandy. Dawn had bathed and changed into a simple yellow sundress with a boat neckline, sleeveless with a full skirt that made her look young and beautiful. 

Marianne smirked when she saw Dawn was barefoot. 

Moving away from the doorway Marianne turned her attention to Sunny. 

“Hey Sunny, why are you hanging out here and not inside dancing with Dawn?” Marianne walked over to where Sunny was leaning against one of the porch’s posts. 

He shrugged. “Just out here thinking.” 

Marianne smiled and nodded. “From the looks of it, your thoughts aren’t all pleasant ones? Everything all right with you and Dawn?” She leaned on the porch railing next to him. 

Sunny blushed and nodded. “Yeah, I just...I guess I’m just doubting myself.” He pressed his lips together then said softly. “I just worry I’m not good enough for her.” 

“Why on earth would you think that?” Marianne looked genuinely stunned. “I thought we had this talk already.” 

“Yeah yeah, I just…” He sighed before groaning and running his hands down his face. “I just...god Marianne I love her. I know it’s stupid since we haven’t been together long, but I love her with all my heart.” He glanced back at Marianne, his brown eyes filled with the need to make her understand. She gave him a reassuring smile. Just looking in his eyes she could see how much he loved her sister. “I want her to be happy, I want her to have everything and I can’t give her everything. I want to give her the moon Marianne. I might be able to give her….” He shrugged. “A life here…” 

He motioned to the compound. “And what girl really wants that? Chasing animals, living in one, maybe two rooms, or if we’re lucky we can build a house on the compound, but still...” He sighed. “I can’t give her a picket fence...a normal life.” 

Marianne smirked at him with her eyebrows lifted. “You know Dawn and I don’t exactly live a normal life.” Marianne emphasized the term “normal life.” “We travel, taking photographs. We have seldom stayed in one place for long...so maybe my sister would like that?” She shook her head. “You think very little of my sister then…” 

“What? No! Oh no!! I don’t!!” Sunny stood up turning to fully face Marianne gesturing with his hands. “No, no. Dawn is…” He sighed his face transforming into a smile that made Marianne’s heart ache with happiness. Sunny really loved her sister, she thought. 

“...She’s the sun and the moon…” 

“Then you need to stop worrying Sunny. I don’t know a lot about love, but I do know that when two people love each other, truly love each other, any obstacle can be overcome.” Marianne smiled at him, tilting her head. “She loves you. You need to have conviction in that.” 

Sunny smiled at her then kicked at an imaginary rock on the porch. “Thanks. I’m an idiot,” he added. 

Marianne laughed and put her hand out. “How about we go in there and show Roland and Brandy how to really dance?” 

Sunny took her hand. “You got it.” 

Just as Marianne and Sunny walked into the living room, Marianne saw Bog. He had come in from the kitchen, a beer bottle in his hand. He looked gorgeous, she thought, in a pair of tight khaki slacks that showed off his long legs and a button up white shirt tucked into his pants, his sleeves rolled up...she had to force herself to breathe. 

Bog glanced over as they walked in and he smiled at her. She smiled back feeling an explosion of butterflies in her stomach. They stared at each other as Marianne walked over to the middle of the living room, her hand in Sunny’s, where Roland and Brandy were dancing. Sunny swung her into his arms and the two of them began to dance. 

Brutus laughed. “Oh no, Sunny’s gonna dance!” 

Dawn giggled, lifting a brow. “Oh no?” 

Brutus grinned motioning at the younger man with his head. He never lost his rhythm on the drums, his hands continuing to move easily. “Sunny there can really cut a rug. Boy should have been a dancer up there with Fred Astaire instead of here with us driving a truck.” 

Sunny laughed. “Nah, I’m not that good, though I will say I’m the best dancer here other than Bog.” He swung Marianne out from him then back into his arms, the two of them flowing into a quick step, moving to the music easily. 

Dawn smiled brightly watching the man she loved and her sister dance, clapping her hands in time to the drum, but Marianne gave Bog a look with a quirked eyebrow. “You dance?” she called out as she and Sunny spun around the room. 

Bog shook his head. “Nah, I don’t.” 

“Don’t listen to him--he’s a liar!” Sunny laughed while he and Marianne swayed for a few moments, arm in arm. “You should give him a try,” Sunny said with a mischievous grin before he swung Marianne out of his arms. Sunny let her go and Marianne spun out laughing only to bump into Bog who had quickly set his beer bottle aside to catch her by her upper arms. 

Marianne looked up at him, her brown eyes bright, her smile sparkling and beautiful he thought as he stared down at her, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. 

“So, wanna dance?” she asked with a giggle that made her seem so young and bright. 

Bog swallowed gazing down at her. “Ah, sure, I guess?” 

Marianne grinned and stepped back from him, Bog’s hands slowly slid down her arms until Marianne took his hands in hers. 

“Come on,” she said softly and began to step backwards. 

Bog let her lead him into the middle of the living room, neither one of them noticing anyone else in the room anymore. Sunny had danced his way over to where Dawn was sitting and put his hands out to her, which Dawn eagerly took. Roland and Brandy moved out of the way to provide space for the extra couples. Brutus quickly changed the record on the record player. 

Paul Anka’s “Put Your Head On My Shoulder” began to play. 

“Put your head on my shoulder 

Hold me in your arms, baby 

Squeeze me oh-so-tight 

Show me that you love me too…” 

Bog swallowed as Marianne put her arms around his shoulders and stepped closer to him. Her eyes were bright and her rosebud lips looked soft and sweet. She smiled at him and whispered, 

“You should put your hands on my waist.” 

“Uh...yeah.” Bog gently put his hands on her waist as if afraid she was fragile. He held her waist for a few seconds before reaching up and took one of her hands, held her hand against his chest. 

They gazed at each other, and when Bog gave her a soft smile, Marianne’s heart melted. 

Marianne took the lead, swaying to the music with Bog who fell easily into step with her. They moved slowly to the music while Paul Anka’s voice floated over them, their eyes never leaving one another. Dawn shared a grin with Sunny, glancing over at her sister before she leaned close to his ear and whispered, “You think they know they're in love yet?” 

Sunny chuckled. “I think so, I just don't think they realize they are in love with each other.” 

Dawn giggled and laid her head against his hair. Sunny pressed his cheek against her chest and closed his eyes. “I love you Dawn.” 

Dawn had her eyes closed swaying to the music. She liked the fact that Sunny was shorter than her. Other girls always wanted the tall guy, but Sunny was short and compact, strong in a way that other guy’s weren't. She loved everything about him, his smile, his eyes, his laugh. 

She sighed happily. “I love you too.” 

Sunny smiled and held her a little tighter. 

* 

Bog and Marianne swayed together. He slowly spun her in a slow circle then back into his arms while Marianne smiled, her cheeks red. He returned her smile with affection, pulling her back into his arms, both of them swaying again. 

“Put your lips next to mine, dear 

Won't you kiss me once, baby? 

Just a kiss goodnight, maybe 

You and I will fall in love...you and I will fall in love...” 

Neither of them said anything as they danced, just staring into each other's eyes, sharing smiles, and holding each other close. Bog laid his cheek against her hair. Marianne closed her eyes leaning into him and enjoying the smell of his skin, the feel of his body while they moved. Slowly she pulled her hand free from his to wrap her arms around his shoulders, her fingers sliding along the back of his neck, feeling the thickness of his dark hair. She brushed her cheek against his short stubble. 

Bog’s hands slid down along her sides, then slowly wrapped around her, pulling her closer to him as he buried his lips and nose against her hair. His hands moved slowly up and down her back in a gentle caress, holding her tighter while he brushed his lips against her hair. 

Marianne caressed his shoulders, pulling herself a fraction closer. 

They both looked at each other at the same time, gazing into each other's eyes and without a word their lips came together in a sweet, gentle, yet deeply passionate kiss. They continued to move to the music, swaying in place while Marianne opened her mouth just enough to stroke his lips with her tongue. Bog responded, his tongue brushing hers; together they deepened the kiss, their bodies swaying until the song came to an end. 

Bog pulled away from her lips, his nose resting against hers. He shivered, though her kiss burned him, leaving him hot and bothered. “I...ah...we...we should get some sleep.” 

Marianne felt herself tremble slightly. She had felt Bog’s kiss all the way to her toes. “Oh...okay,” she whispered. 

Bog stepped back from her, his hands reluctant to let her go, his fingers sliding along her waist until he finally turned and left the room quickly. Marianne watched him go, her heart hammering in her chest. 

* 

The next morning, after a restless night, Marianne was working in the makeshift darkroom developing some of her photos. Today she was dressed for work, wearing a pair of dark green pants, a heavy black apron around her waist, and a simple white shirt with three quarter sleeves, a dark green curfew around the back of her hair. She had just finished developing some photos and had opened the curtain to let in some air and light while she pressed the photos with a roller. 

When she opened the windows, she could hear loud singing going on in a language she didn’t understand. She smiled, listening for a few moments, wondering if it was some of the indigenous people who worked on the compound before heading back to her photos when there was a knock on the door. 

“Hey Marianne, you in there?” 

Marianne looked up from her work with an expression of surprise. It was Pare’s voice, probably the last person she would expect. “Uh, yes--give me a minute,” she replied. 

She quickly finished what she was doing and hurried over to unlock the door. She kept the door locked to make sure no one walked in while she was working and ruin her photos. That had happened one too many times while she was on an assignment that now if the room she was given for a dark room didn’t have a lock, she had one installed. Once she was sure everything in the room was safe, Marianne opened the door to see Pare leaning on his cane dressed all in khaki shirt and pants. He was looking much better over the last few days, had more color in his cheeks, and his eyes sparkled more. 

“You got visitors,” he said with a grin. 

“What?” Marianne looked confused causing Pare to laugh. “Hear that singing…” He pointed with his cane in the general direction of outside. “...those are your visitors.” 

“But...who?” Marianne asked, glancing toward her open window. 

Pare smiled. “It’s the Warusha people.” 

Marianne looked even more confused. “The entire people? Here to see me?” 

Pare nodded. “That song they’re singing is for you and your elephants.” 

Marianne blinked in surprise. “Really?” 

Pare nodded. “You should come on out.” 

Marianne blushed and hurried to remove her apron. “Yes, I think I should.” 

* 

Closing the door and following Pare outside into the main area of the compound, Marianne saw that everyone else was there as well, watching the people and it looked like it might just be the entire people, or at least a good hunk of them, singing and dancing dressed in their traditional clothing. The sight of the dozens, probably scores of them, was gorgeous and impressive. They were mostly dressed in shades of red, though Marianne also saw a rainbow of color and patterns: black, blue, checkered, and striped cloth. The women wore big flat bead-decorated collars in various patterns and colors while everyone wore bracelets, earrings, and anklets of extraordinary beadwork. They were all singing and dancing, which consisted mostly of a sort of elegant jumping. Marianne, her eyes wide in wonder, asked Pare in confusion. “What are they doing?” 

“Just a traditional greeting,” Pare said as he made his way over to sit with Lizzie who was resting against part of a stone fence. 

Marianne walked closer coming to stand next to Bog who was sitting on the same stone fence. 

“Hey,” Marianne said. 

Bog grinned and motioned with his hand toward the gathered people before them. 

Marianne shared a glance with Bog before she turned and walked closer. Suddenly the group surrounded Marianne. She yelped in surprise as they all turned and led Marianne off. She tried to turn around having no idea what was going on, but she couldn’t see Bog or anyone else through the crowd that simply swallowed her up and led her away. 

* 

Bog chuckled watching Marianne disappear with the people before he finally stood up. “I suppose we should follow ‘em and find out what’s going on.” 

Brutus laughed standing up and dusting off his backside while Roland asked with actual concern. “They aren’t gonna hurt her are they?” 

Bog made a rude noise. “Pfft...no, ‘course not. Just come on.” 

* 

Marianne was escorted back to the home of the Warusha. Once they had her in their village, Marianne was escorted by the women into one of the large houses where the next few minutes were a little chaotic. 

No one spoke english and Marianne didn’t speak their language, though none of them seemed inclined to listen to her as she was stripped, bathed, and dressed in a deep red shuka that wrapped around her body (and felt very comfortable she had to admit) with a bright blue cape that wrapped around her shoulders, tying in the front. They also fitted her with one of their gorgeous beaded disc necklaces and since her ears were not pierced (which from what Marianne could gather was very disappointing to the women around her) they hung beaded earrings around her ears as well as covering her ankles and wrists with beautiful, intricate beaded jewelry. She had the feeling they wanted to shave her head--all the women had shaved heads (with only a few with short hair), but she did her best to make sure they understood she really didn’t want to shave her hair, so the women used mud to slick Marianne’s hair back flat to her head. Lastly, they slipped sandals onto her feet. 

When she came out of the house, everyone was still singing and dancing, but she found Bog and the others waiting for her outside. She held her arms out and did a turn. 

“I have no idea what’s going on, but they dressed me in this.” She giggled blushing. 

Dawn squealed. “Oh sis, you look gorgeous!!” 

Marianne grinned looking down at herself. “It is nice isn’t it. But...why?” She looked up confused, her eyes going to Bog for answers. 

Bog smiled at her, his arms crossed over his chest. “Well it seems they’ve adopted you and given you a name, Mother of Elephants--Mama Tembo to be precise.” 

Marianne blushed. “What?” 

Bog nodded and motioned to the dancers. “And, I think they want you to dance with them, a celebration of a new family member...” 

Marianne turned toward the dancers. She watched them for a few seconds and then did her best to jump and dance like they were. She was a bit stiff at first, but as she moved to join the group, several of the women smiled at her and gave her approving nods. Marianne looked up and caught Bog’s eye, beaming with pleasure as she relaxed and let herself move with everyone else. The other women in the group were clearly pleased with her, which only encouraged Marianne to relax and dance more, letting herself really get into the music. 

Bog smiled at her, pleased at how she had simply accepted what was going on. He was proud of her and impressed, his mind floating to memories of his ex. She would have been angry, maybe even insulted if the Warusha had done to her what they had just done with Marianne. Watching her dance, Bog’s heart skipped a beat and he knew he was falling even more in love with this incredible woman. 

* 

That night as Griselda and Dawn were setting out dinner, Bog came in dressed better than he usually did. He wore khaki slacks and a nice button down shirt with the sleeves rolled down and buttoned. He had even taken the time to slick his hair back (or at least attempted to) and when Griselda came close to him to set a platter of roasted potatoes down, she smelled aftershave. 

She quirked a brow at her son, but said nothing as Bog took his seat then looked around with a frown. “Where’s Mama Tembo?” 

“She’s eating in her room I think. She was on her third bath trying to get the mud out of her hair, but she seems to be in good spirits,” Dawn replied with a smile. “Okay...no, maybe a little grumpy, but not too bad.” 

Bog nodded then stood again. “Mam, we got any wine?” 

“There’s a bottle of red I think--why?” she asked, but Bog simply walked off toward the kitchen. Griselda frowned, but her frown quickly turned into a grin as she watched her son return and walk by her, a bottle of wine in his hand and two wine glasses. He left the dining room and turned toward Marianne’s room. 

* 

When Bog arrived at Marianne’s door he knocked softly. “You decent?” 

“Yes...ah, NO! Don’t come in!” Marianne called out, but Bog chuckled. “Oh just cover up.” He opened the door with a smile, especially when he saw Sonia lounging across some pillows near the door. “Hey girl, don’t you look comfy?” Bog turned and saw Marianne sitting on her bed wearing an adorable Peter Pan collared pink pajama top with loose matching pants, her short hair was a wild forest of damp spikes and she had cold cream smeared on her face and across her nose. 

Bog chuckled when he saw her, but thought she had never looked more adorable. 

Marianne wrinkled her nose and giggled followed by a pout that she emphasized by crossing her arms over her chest. “You know you’re a jerk. When I look nice, you ignore me, but now that I look like the creature from the black lagoon you come to see me...” She glanced at his hands. “...with wine...ass.” 

Bog chuckled, his smile sweet and amused. “You look fine.” 

Marianne gave him a withering look, but that just made Bog smile wider. “Okay fine, you look terrible.” 

Marianne narrowed her eyes. “You keep it up, you can just go away.” 

Bog grinned at her and walked over to sit on the side of her bed next to her. “How are you feeling?” 

“My scalp hurts a little from trying to scrub all that mud out,” Marianne muttered reaching up to touch her head and wince. 

“Wanna drink?” he asked as he set the wine glasses down on her bedside table. 

Marianne smiled and nodded. 

Bog proceeded to open the bottle (careful not to pop it in such a way that the cork flew out) and poured the rich red liquid into the glasses. “I was proud of you today,” he said softly. “The Warusha really appreciated how you behaved with them. They are now saying Mama Tembo is Rifiki, which means friend.” 

Marianne’s eyes softened. “Really?” 

Bog nodded and handed her one of the filled glasses. “They are also saying that you’re Mbalimibali, which means you’re different, different from other women,” he explained softly, gazing at her in a way that made Marianne shiver. She took a sip of the wine before she asked with a hint of annoyance at her current state. 

“Different in that I’m currently greasy with cold cream and an itchy head,” she muttered which made Bog chuckle. 

“Stop it.” 

Marianne wrinkled her nose. “I look terrible right now.” 

“You look just fine to me,” Bog said, his tone tender, but Marianne made a little growl. 

“Covered in cold cream and greasy and you think I look fine?” 

“Oh stop grousing,” Bog muttered as he reached for her, grasping her gently by the shoulders and pulled her close, his lips going for her throat except his face became smeared with cold cream instead. 

Bog chuckled, sitting back, though his hands remained resting on her arms. “Well, you are a bit slippery.” 

Marianne laughed to see half of Bog’s face covered in her cold cream. 

Bog blushed. “Wanna wipe it off and we’ll try again?” 

Marianne nodded with a giggle. 

Bog reached over and grabbed a few tissues from the box on the table and gently wiped her mouth and chin off before doing the same for himself. Just as he tossed the tissues onto the table Mariane wrapped her arms around his shoulders and tugged him to her, pressing her mouth to his lips. Bog smiled, wrapping his arms around her and pulled her close. He couldn’t recall a time in his life when he had felt this happy. Marianne opened her mouth, her tongue caressing his lips in a way that sent shivers racing up and down Bog’s spine. He held her a little tighter, his tongue slipping into her mouth in a slow, sensual dance that created an uncomfortable tightening in his pants. She tasted of sweetness and promise. 

Marianne made a little groan of pleasure when Bog’s tongue caressed hers. She liked the way he tasted, the way his mouth felt against hers, the smell of his skin, the feel of his hands on her arms. Bog made her ache with want. 

Just as the kiss started to move into more “graphic” territory, they both heard Sunny call out. “Come an’ get it!” 

The door (which Bog had left partially open when he came in), swung the rest of the way open. Sunny came dashing through with a tray of food, but he didn’t see Sonia and stepped on the leopard's tail. The leopard let out a very unhappy squawk at the same time Sunny had twisted around at the sound coming from Sonia and tripped over his own feet. The tray went flying from his hands to slam into Bog, dumping the entire contents onto Bog’s lap. 

Sunny gasped. “Oh...oh shit...Bog...” 

Bog stood up to his full height, potatoes, gravy, and beef dripping off of him. His face still had cold cream smeared across his cheek and part of his nose. Marianne couldn't help it; the expression of annoyed rage on Bog’s face looked funny. 

She started to laugh, especially when Bog stuck his hand into the pocket of his slacks and pulled out some potato. 

Sunny grinned and shrugged. “I brought you your dinner.” 

Bog glared at the short man who put his hands up. “Now Bog…” 

Bog just glared and then, without another word, stomped from the room leaving Marianne chuckling. 

“Poor Bog,” she murmured, but she was smiling, her cheeks rosy from their kiss. 

* 

The next morning dawned bright and hot. 

Marianne was taking photos of Bog as he sat in the front catcher’s seat on the truck, goggles over his eyes. He had just reached back for the stick lasso. They were chasing a large herd of wildebeests. There were so many of them that they seemed to stretch on forever Marianne thought, watching in amazement as they tried to herd the animals onto the flats to give Bog a better chance to grab one. Marianne could tell by the way Bog was holding himself that he was looking for just the right one to snare. There was something about the way he moved with the truck, held his head, but she could just tell. 

After a few more tense moments Bog called out. “Head to the right!” 

Sunny grinned and altered course. “Whatever you say Boss!” 

One of the wildebeests turned, leaving the herd, heading to the right. Bog leaned dangerously out, his arms extended with the stick lasso. Marianne’s heart beat fast, her palms sweaty as she watched him and the animals. They were all equipped with deadly horns; it wouldn’t take much for one of them to turn and charge, impaling Bog. She tried not to think about it, but her sister, who was sitting between her and Sunny, reached over and took one of Marianne’s hands, giving it a comforting squeeze. Looking up Marianne saw her sister give her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Bog knows what he’s doing.” 

Marianne nodded “Yeah, I know…” 

Dawn didn’t take back her hand, but simply held Marianne’s hand providing some comfort. It didn’t matter how good Bog was at his job, there was still that worry that something, anything, could go wrong and Bog could end up like Pare, or worse. 

Suddenly there was a loud popping sound. Marianne looked out the window of the truck just in time to see Lizzie and Roland’s jeep twist and suddenly roll over once, then land on it’s side. 

“Oh my god!” Marianne cried. “Lizzie’s jeep just flipped!” 

Sunny’s eyes bugged for a second, but he swiftly started to turn the truck around. Bog spun around to yell at him, but then saw the jeep. Brandy was in the truck with the animal cages and Pare who was driving. He could see her truck pulling up alongside the downed jeep. The dust made it hard to see, but he thought he saw Lizzie lying on her side, though he didn’t see Roland. 

“Shit,” Bog muttered. 

* 

When they arrived Pare was helping Lizzie to sit up and the others were pulling Roland out from under the jeep. They both were bruised, bloody, and covered in dirt. 

Bog unbuckled himself from his chair and practically threw himself out. He was running toward them the moment his feet hit the ground. “Lizzie!” he called out, but Pare motioned at him to stay calm. “She’s okay, just dislocated her shoulder...” 

Bog nodded with a sigh of relief and hurriedly pass toward Roland. Brandy had Roland’s head on her lap, his eyes fluttered open and he groaned. “My legs…” 

Bog hurried over and gently pulled back the ripped cloth of Roland’s pants. They were bloody and bruised, but looked all right otherwise. “I think you’re okay.” 

Roland nodded, then looked up at Brandy. “I need to stand.” 

Brandy looked to Bog, but he nodded. Together they helped Roland to his feet, the other man put pressure on his legs, winced, but stood. He sighed with relief. “I’m good.” 

Bog gently released him with a sigh of relief. “Good...that’s good.” 

* 

An hour later they had the jeep up on it’s tires and chained to the back of one of the trucks to be towed, all of them heading back to the compound. 

Sunny, Marianne, and Bog were in the front of the truck while Dawn was in the back with Brandy helping with Roland and Lizzie. 

Sunny sighed and glanced at Bog, who was driving. He was upset, not angry, but still tense after the accident and he needed something to focus his attention on, which was why he was driving instead of Sunny. “We were sure lucky this afternoon,” Sunny said matter-of-factly as he gazed out the window. 

Bog nodded. “Yeah. Poor Brandy.” 

“Poor Brandy?” Sunny looked confused, but it was Marianne, sitting between them, who spoke. “She’s in love with Roland, that had to hurt her to see him like that.” 

“She is?” Sunny looked dumbfounded. “But he’s so...I don’t know...not her type?” 

Bog chuckled glancing over at Sunny. “What’s her type Uncle Sunny?” 

Sunny gave Bog a dirty look before he added. “Well, not such a…” He struggled for a word before he settled. “... pretty boy. I always thought Brandy liked the rougher guys.” 

Marianne laughed. “Maybe it's because she’s hasn’t had a lot to choose from? But Roland’s been proving himself to be tougher than I would have thought.” She tilted her head and frowned. “He’s like an entirely different person than the Roland I knew.” 

Bog glanced over at Marianne with a slight frown that Marianne didn’t see, but she answered his unspoken question that she didn’t even realize was being asked when she laid her hand on Bog’s thigh. The spark of heat that radiated through him at her touch made him want to squirm. He smiled as she gently squeezed his leg and continued to talk with Sunny. 

“I think it’s pretty obvious that Roland has a thing for her too,” Marianne murmured to which Bog responded with a growl. 

“He hurts her, I'm going to put my boot so far up his ass he’ll be spitting leather for a year.” 

Marianne giggled at that. 

But Sunny grinned. “Don’t laugh, Bog will do it!” 

* 

The next morning Marianne woke up early as she had been doing for the last week and a half to feed the baby elephants. She dressed in clothing she expected to change out of later, khaki slacks, a simple brown shirt, and headed out. 

The sun was up, already beginning to get warm out. A pretty typical morning so far except when Marianne arrived at the pen where the baby elephants slept, one of the baby elephants was out. Luckily, he was just playing with some hay, picking it up and tossing it into the air when Marianne, carrying a bucket of greens for them, came up short, stopping in confusion when she saw the baby elephant not in his pen. 

“How on earth…” she muttered only to gasp as her second baby elephant came prancing happily around the side of the pen in the company of a third baby elephant. 

Marianne’s eyes widened when she saw the third baby elephant. “Oh...oh Bog is going to kill me.” 

“What am I going to do?” Bog came strolling around from behind her and stopped dead when he saw the third elephant. “No...oh...oh no…” He turned to Marianne and growled. “How did this happen?” 

Marianne shrugged. “I don’t know! What are we going to do?” 

“Well how the hell should I know?!” Bog threw his arms up in the air in annoyance just as Sunny came wandering by. “What...we got another one?” 

Bog growled. “Looks like we’re running a god damn elephant nursery!” 

Marianne giggled, she couldn’t help it. Bog was pretty cute when he was exasperated. “So I guess that means he can stay.” 

Bog stomped off muttering. “Mother Tembo my foot…” 

Sunny watched Bog go, laughing before he turned to Marianne. “And you just won another one.” 

Marianne laughed before opening the pen and led the three elephants inside. “Come on babies, let’s have some breakfast.” 

* 

Later that afternoon Bog was sitting at his desk inside working on some paperwork he needed to catch up on, or at least he was trying to. His mind kept wandering to thoughts of Marianne. He pressed his lips together as he worked. He hated paperwork and he had put this off as long as he could, but thinking about Marianne made the task a little less arduous. He reached over and picked up his cigarette, taking a long drag on it before he set it back in the ashtray and started to write when Ian came wandering in. “Hey Bog. You know what Sunny is working on out in the workshop? I heard all this noise and I stopped by, but Sunny wouldn’t let me in. He said you promised him that no one would interfere.” 

Bog looked up with a slight frown. “One of his inventions I guess…” 

Pare and Lizzie were sharing the couch nearby, Pare laying back and reading with his leg up while Lizzie laid back between his legs and seemed to be dozing with her head on his chest. Pare looked up from his book to mutter, “I think he’s working on some Rube Goldberg version of a monkey trap idea...” 

Lizzie didn’t open her eyes, but she did mutter. “Oh great, hope it’s better than his hippo trap.” 

Everyone in the room chuckled at the remembered chaos that had occurred from that idea. 

Ian sat down on the back of the couch. “You have any idea what he’s using to build this trap?” 

Bog motioned to a piece of paper setting on the desk along with a pile of others. “No, but I know the list is there. I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet.” 

Ian picked up the paper and began read off. “840 feet ⅜ nylon rope, 260 feet ⅛ airplane cable, 80 feet 1.2 O.D. aluminum tubing, 1,200 square yards of nylon fish net.” 

“Fish net?” Bog looked up from his paperwork and shook his head muttering. “We’re going fishing for monkeys now?” 

Ian chuckled. “It gets better. 100 pounds of black powder, 20 war-surplus rockets and four firing switches to be used in missiles for second-stage boost.” 

“WHAT?!” Bog stood up. 

Pare chuckled. “He's trying to launch monkeys into space?” 

“Or himself,” Lizzie added without opening her eyes. 

Bog growled as he grabbed his cigarette and headed for the door. “All right, I think I need to go have a word with Sunny.” 

Ian followed quickly after him chuckling. “Better put out that cigarette!” 

Bog stopped and looked down at the cigarette between his fingers before he turned around, walked back in and put it out in the ashtray. 

He muttered turning back around to head outside. “Let’s go see what birdbrain idea Sunny’s come up with…”


	8. Monkey Tree

Bog and Ian strolled across the compound to where a large hut sat on the edges of the compound near some of the animal cages, where Sunny usually did his “experiments.” The place was large enough that Sunny could work on a vehicle inside if he wanted to drive one in. Just as Bog and Ian were coming up on the hut, the frantic cries of some of the compound workers could be heard, yelling at the top of their lungs. In the next instant, several men dashed out from the hut, still yelling, some waving their arms around. 

“HATARI!! HATARI!!” 

Suddenly there was a large explosion from inside the hut, followed by a rocket that just as suddenly blasted through the roof of the hut and flew up and arched into the air. Bog and Ian both threw themselves to the ground. The rocket kept going, it’s high pitched whine filling the air. 

Bog got to his feet looking up into the sky. “What the fuck?!!” He motioned for Ian. “Come on!! We need to check on Sunny! SOMEONE GET A HOSE!!” 

Everyone stopped as another small explosion could be heard, followed by more smoke from the now downed rocket. 

Ian rushed over to grab the large hose near the animal cages to start to spray down the hut while Bog headed toward the hut to search for Sunny. He had barely gone two steps before Sunny came rushing out of the hut wearing a black rubber apron and large, up to his elbow leather gloves. When he saw Ian with the hose Sunny raced past Bog, who turned to watch him, his expression torn between relief, anger, and curiosity. Sunny was waving his arms at Ian even as smoke was pouring out of the hut. 

Sunny raced up to Ian and grabbed the hose from him. “STOP!! You’ll spoil everything in there!! My stuff isn’t waterproof!!” 

Ian looked confused. “Sunny, the place is on fire!! Look at the way it’s smoking!” 

Sunny wrestled for the hose. “It’s just some powder!! It’ll clear up on it’s own!” 

Bog turned around and came stomping over to Sunny, his long legged strides cutting the distance easily. “What the hell are you doing??? I thought you were working on a monkey trap, not trying to send one to the fucking moon and blow us up along with it!” 

Sunny paled a little. Bog was furious, but he didn’t back down. “I am!! I did...you’ll see, just let the smoke clear. And tell Ian not to soak everything!” 

Bog was growling, but his flashing blue eyes flicked over to Ian and gave him a quick, sharp hand motion to stop. Ian didn’t look happy, but he sighed. “Fine.” He turned around and shouted for the hose to be turned off. 

Narrowing his eyes dangerously, Bog glared at the hut and started to move toward it like a storm front coming in. Sunny dropped his grip on the hose once he was sure Ian wasn’t a danger and rushed to get in front of Bog, his arms stretched to block the taller man. “Now you said you’d leave me alone, that you trusted me…” 

“Yeah, I know what I said...” Bog stopped in his tracks and grumbled, looking past Sunny to the hut. Smoke was still billowing out of the house like a great dragon. “...but I didn’t expect you to be launching rockets out of the place like some goddamn mad scientist!” 

Sunny put his hands on his hips. “Bog, you promised, this space was my space, off limits. You promised and you said you trusted me. Don’t you trust me?” Sunny pulled out the big guns then, giving his best friend his wide-eyed innocence look. 

“Yeah, yeah--I trust you,” Bog muttered then asked more calmly, his eyes on the hut again. “You set that rocket off or did it go off by itself?” 

Sunny suddenly looked sheepish. “Well...ya see…” 

Bog’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Which is it Sunny?” 

Sunny’s eyes became even bigger, if that were possible. “I...well...you see…” 

Bog glowered down his long, sharp nose at the shorter man. Sunny stuttered again. “It’s...I…” Finally he pointed at Bog. “You promised!!” 

Bog stared at the shorter man, his shoulders tight, then suddenly let out a long suffering sigh. “Just…” He glanced at the hut again and shook his head. “...just get the roof fixed Sunny,” he muttered before turning and walking away. 

Sunny grinned at Bog before he turned and hurried back into the smoking hut. 

* 

Later that evening, the African night was cool and comfortable. The porch doors, as always in the evenings, were wide open after dinner. Marianne sat at the small upright piano, playing out a jazzy tune, tapping her foot while Brutus leaned on the piano, tapping his fingers along with her. Roland and Brandy sat nearby, the young woman on Roland’s lap. The scene was cozy--a strange coziness--but cozy nonetheless. 

Sunny came in still dressed in his apron and gloves, a little soot-covered, and carrying some books with him. He stopped for a moment next to Marianne and began to dance along with the piano music. The man was quite good as he did some rare comical foot work before he glided away, waving at the others. He headed over to the other side of the room where Dawn was dancing with Ian, the two of them swinging each other around to the music. Pare sat nearby on the couch, watching the younger people with Lizzie next to him, her legs curled up on the couch, and a beer in her hand. She was sharing the beer with Pare, taking a sip herself then holding the beer to his lips for Pare to sip from. 

Griselda sat in one of the large chairs, drinking her own beer and tapping her foot along with the music, her eyes partly closed, a contented smile on her face. 

Bog sat at the other end of the room at his desk head bent over some paperwork. A bottle of beer at at his elbow that he had taken one sip from, and a cigarette rested in the ashtray, burning lazily away, forgotten. 

Sunny came up behind Dawn and tapped her shoulder. 

Dawn spun around, her voice bright and happy. “Sweetie!” 

Marianne glanced over at the two when they kissed. She smirked. Had her sister just called Sunny sweetie? She wanted to snort. 

Ian continued to dance by himself spinning around to grin at Sunny who had walked over to the liquor cabinet to grab a beer. 

“So how’s your monkey rocket chaser coming?” Ian asked as he spun around. 

Sunny wrinkled his nose at Ian, but answered with a grin. “It’s coming along just fine.” 

Pare shook his head. “Okay, explain to me how you are going to catch monkeys with a rocket?” 

Bog looked up from his paperwork at the mention of the rocket; he was very curious where this was going too. 

Ian grinned. “I bet he’s going to scare them. Having the rocket rip through the trees would scare the shit out of me. Scared the shit out of me this morning! I had to go change!!” 

Everyone chuckled, but Ian added. “See here’s the plan, once you’ve scared the shit out of them and all the monkeys have fallen from the trees in a dead faint, we just have to run in there with stretchers, load 'em up, and carry the fallen dears away.” 

Griselda opened her eyes with a laugh. “Oh that would be funny! Can I make y'all little nurses’ outfits to go with this image?” 

Brutus grinned. “I like mine short, to show off my sexy knees.” 

Everyone snickered, but Sunny grinned taking a long drink of his beer before shaking his head. “Okay, okay, haha…” 

“So where does the fishnet you got come in?” Ian asked with a grin. “You and your rocket are going to Pied piper them into the net?” 

Sunny smirked at Ian. “I’m not going to catch them like that. Nope, I’m going to make sure five hundred monkeys are under that net for you to catch.” Sunny nodded. “I’m not going anywhere near any monkeys. You see the teeth on some of them?” He looked to Dawn who shook her head with wide eyes. Sunny dropped his voice dramatically. “Some of them can get teeth up to an inch long!” 

Ian added causally. “An inch and a half.” 

“Well see there, you guys should be thinking of ways not to have those monkeys sink their inch and a half long teeth into your backsides, which is what I’m doing...I’m thinking about our juicy backsides and monkey teeth…” He grinned while taking a drink of his beer. “Anyway, I’ll be ready tomorrow, but if you guys don’t think my invention will work and are willing to risk an inch and a half monkey tooth in you asses well...don’t let me stop you.” He gave everyone a grin. 

Dawn giggled. “You are so amazing.” 

Sunny waggled his eyebrows at her. “Just wait until you see what I’ve come up with, then you’ll think I’m even more amazing.” He grinned at her and quickly stole a kiss from her lips. 

Dawn giggled and whispered. “I’ll be there soon.” 

Sunny smiled into her eyes. “See you in a bit sweetheart.” 

He grinned and waved at everyone else. “Night folks!” 

Everyone watched Sunny leave the room. Dawn hurried over to her sister and wrapped her arms around her shoulders from behind before Marianne stood up from the piano. “Night sis.” 

Marianne hugged her sister's arm. “Night. Sleep tight.” 

Dawn waved at everyone else as she left following Sunny. “Night!!” 

Bog stood up watching her go, picked up his cigarette--nearly burned to the end--and took a drag as he walked over to Ian and the others. “You don’t think…” He said softly, staring after Sunny and Dawn. 

Ian shrugged. “That’s the thing, you can’t depend on Sunny...it might actually work.” 

Lizzie laughed. “Damn Ian.” 

“What?” Ian grinned. Ian frowned for a moment then nodded. “Let’s see what we got.” 

Marianne giggled having no idea what was happening, but followed everyone out of the room. 

Apparently they were looking for armor. 

* 

They were all back in the living room having gathered a strange variety of objects and clothing in order to create some sort of monkey proof armor. 

Bog, with Marianne’s and his mother’s help, had some found some flat pieces of metal and were using it like plating over his arms, chest, and back, all held together with some metal wire and leather between the pieces to hold them all together. (The wire also provided some protection. Hopefully the wires would deter monkeys biting through to get to the skin.) Bog and Marianne were working with some old chicken coop wire frames to fashion something to wear over his legs while Brutus and Roland had found some old sports gear, hockey masks, and pads that had been left over from the time Brutus and Pare had tried to invent African hockey (it didn’t go well.) They were all quite busy designing their makeshift monkey armor when Ian came waddling through the door. 

They all stopped what they were doing to stare. 

Ian had opted for wearing dozens of layers of clothing on his slender frame which made it difficult for him to walk or to move his arms much. For a helmet, he had on a clear plastic bowl or vase that fit perfectly over his head. He had cut out a section and added chicken wire to the front so he could breathe. 

Bog, who had just stopped to take a sip of his beer, nearly spit the contents out across the floor when he saw the younger man. Marianne burst out laughing, as did everyone else. 

Bog blinked. “Damn Ian, you look like a gasoline pump!! Can you bend and move around in that thing or are you just gonna stand there and let the monkeys swarm you?” 

Ian demonstrated that he could in fact bend, mostly, and he crab-walked across the room. “See, just fine!” he yelled, his hearing muffled under the makeshift helmet. 

Lizzie, who was pulling on a pair of river, fishing waders for her leg armor laughed. “Jeez, the monkeys are going to faint just seeing you!” 

Bog laughed. “Yeah, you look like the Man from Mars.” 

Ian walked around with stiff arms and legs saying in his best robot voice. “Take me to your leader, boop boop.” 

Bog snorted just as Marianne picked up an old metal bird cage. “Ready for your helmet, my lord?” 

Bog snickered. “Aye, my lady.” 

She got up on the table so that she could easily lay the cage (from which they had removed the bottom) over Bog’s head and shoulders. It looked silly, but it would be effective in keeping the monkeys from biting or clawing at his face. They had added some leather strings to his chest armor in order to tie the makeshift helmet to Bog’s shoulders. 

Marianne giggled. The cage door was open and she looked inside at him, her brown eyes twinkling. “Shall I close your door, sir Knight?” 

Bog grinned at her. “Nope. Verily, I shan’t be able to breathe,” he joked. 

Marianne burst into peals of laughter. 

Bog grinned and grabbed her around the waist, lifted her off the table, and set her back on her feet. “I would kiss you my lady, but…” He shrugged looking around at the cage on his head. 

Marianne smiled sweetly. “Well don’t let that stop you.” She grabbed the sides of his cage, yanked him down to her, and pressed her face to the cage door. Bog leaned toward her, their lips touching. 

Griselda grinned watching the two of them start to laugh. Brutus bumped her hip, drawing Griselda’s attention. He leaned down and whispered. “That seems to be going nicely.” 

Griselda nodded, whispering back. “Yes it does. I just hope it’ll continue.” 

Brutus nodded his understanding then added, “Bog’s seems different this time--she’s different. I like her. I didn’t like his fiancee.” 

“Me either. Marianne feels...like family,” Griselda whispered. 

Brutus grinned with a nod. “Agreed. She and Dawn belong here.” 

Griselda nodded and sighed. “I’m not worried about Dawn. I have a feeling she is staying. She and Sunny are wrapped as tight together like two mating snakes around each other.” She looked at her son and Marianne. “I just hope the two of them get that way soon.” 

Brutus rubbed the older woman’s shoulder with one large hand. “I’m sure they will.” 

“I hope you’re right.” She smiled back at him. 

* 

The next morning Sunny, along with several young warriors from the Aruska tribe, spent the better half of the day chasing monkeys, running about, doing their best to herd them all into one large tree. They had several orders for monkeys from zoos across the world, larger orders than usual--five hundred to be exact. He hadn’t been kidding about the number when he’d told Ian five hundred, but together, Sunny and the warriors worked hard, and by early evening, they had accomplished their goal: five hundred vervet monkeys waiting for them in a tree. 

* 

Sunny returned just after dark, a wide grin on his face. 

Dawn jumped up from where she had been making gloves for the hunt tomorrow, and wrapped her arms around Sunny’s shoulders, planting a large kiss on his cheek. 

Marianne, Griselda, and Brutus were sitting on the couch together sewing thick cloth into makeshift helmets and body armor while Bog was busy bending and forming metal and wire pieces with a hammer and some pliers trying to make additional face shields, as well as arm and leg shields. Roland, with Brady’s help, was designing leg coverings made with leather and cotton padding around his legs. 

Pare was helping Lizzie with some armor for her biceps made from pieces of sheet metal. 

Sunny strolled in and stopped in the middle of the room, grinning from ear to ear, his arm around Dawn’s waist. “Attention! Attention!” He smiled, catching everyone’s eye. “Three miles down the road there is a tree filled with monkeys, a lot of monkeys. At 6:30 a.m., I’m going to drive down there and get a net ready to throw over those monkeys, the rest is up to you, my manly hunters.” 

Lizzie looked over at Sunny. “Hey!” 

“Sorry. And ladies,” Sunny corrected himself and Lizzie grinned. “Better.” 

Bog looked up from his work, frowning. “How the hell did you get them all up there?” 

Sunny grinned proudly. “The Aruska helped. Traded two cartons of your cigarettes for their help.” 

Bog frowned, a slight twitch at the corner of his left eye. He glanced over at his mother who was grinning at him. He figured the cigarettes were her idea since she was always trying to get him to quit smoking. 

“Well...I hope they like them,” Bog muttered. 

Sunny grinned. “Well, they would have preferred filter tips…” 

“Hahah,” Bog said flatly. 

Ian frowned and looked over at Sunny in confusion. “How the hell are you going to keep them in that tree overnight?” 

Sunny grinned. “The dogs. I tied Rover and Cyclone under the tree. When I left they were barking like mad.” 

Dawn frowned. “That seems mean.” 

Sunny shrugged. “I’ll admit I don’t like the idea of scaring the monkeys, but no matter how we go about this, they’re going to be scared. I’m trying to make this as gentle as possible, that’s where the net comes in…” 

He looked around at the armor making. “So you knights of the roundtable think you’ll be armored enough?” 

Bog nodded. “Yeah, those monkeys won’t get a chance to bite any asses tomorrow.” 

A murmur of agreement went through the group making Sunny smile. 

“This is going to be great!” he said. 

* 

Early the next morning, everyone drove out to the location of the monkey tree. Sunny had left an hour before everyone else, and when they arrived they saw Sunny and several workers from the compound standing in front of a tree almost weighted down with screaming monkeys. Sunny was supervising the last bit of laying out the largest length of fishnet Marianne had ever seen along with an honest to god rocket resting on a launch pad that looked to be mainly made of sticks. 

Bog walked around the side of the truck, wearing all his armor but the helmet, and came to stand next to Marianne, who moved a little stiffly in her own armor, and leaned against the jeep with her arms crossed--or at least she tried to cross her arms, but she was too well padded to cross them so she just dropped her arms to her sides in defeat. 

“That doesn’t look safe,” she murmured. 

“I don’t think anything Sunny does is technically safe,” Bog murmured back to her. Marianne laughed softly, covering her mouth with her hand. He grinned at her and took her hand. Awkwardly they both walked over to Sunny and his rocket, their makeshift armor making them both move like stiff robots. 

Their small group stopped in front of Sunny’s rocket, all of them looking at the rocket with skeptical expressions. 

Bog gave the colorful red, white, and blue painted rocket a once over, his brow furrowed and his nose wrinkled. 

He glanced over and muttered at Sunny skeptically, “Do you really think this thing is going to work?” 

Sunny smiled, looking a little sheepish. “I hope so, I’ve been working hard on this. I’m going to shoot that rocket over that tree of monkeys where there are at least five hundred vervets and yes, I counted!” Sunny pointed a finger at Ian who had his own finger up, his mouth open ready to ask if Sunny had indeed counted the monkeys. Ian grinned and snapped his mouth shut giving Sunny an apologetic look. 

“You guys worry about getting monkeys. I'll worry about the net.” Sunny sounded slightly offended. 

Bog frowned then raised a hand. Sunny rolled his eyes at him and nodded. 

“All right, so the tree of monkeys is in that direction…” Bog pointed toward the tree. “...but the rocket is pointed in the opposite direction….why?” Bog looked genuinely confused. 

Sunny puffed his chest out. “Because I read books. You have to take into consideration certain factors, vectors, centrifugal force! Do you know what those things are?” 

Bog looked a little annoyed and answered in a tone that clearly said he knew exactly what those things were before he answered in the negative for Sunny’s benefit. “No, no I don’t.” 

“Then you wouldn’t understand,” Sunny said with an air of superiority only to have Bog ask with a smile. “Do you know?” 

Sunny looked annoyed. “Get behind the tree, I’m lighting it!” He took out his lighter threateningly. 

Bog chuckled. “Okay, I’m getting behind a tree!” 

The group of them jogged off in their makeshift armor for the dubious protection of the tree while Sunny walked behind his rocket. “Just remember to move fast on those monkeys!” he yelled as he stood behind the rocket, crossed both fingers and sent a quick prayer to God and lit the fuse before running for the tree himself. He twisted around the tree and dropped into a crouch. Hiding next to Bog, Sunny covered his eyes. Dawn hurried in a crab walk over to him and wrapped herself around Sunny, her chin resting on his head, watching the rocket with everyone else. 

The rocket shot into the air at an angle and then, to everyone's surprise, twisted backwards pulling the net with it, up and over the tree, coming down to land with a minor explosion, the net nearly wrapped around the tree. 

Bog, along with Marianne and everyone else, stepped out from behind the trees, their mouths open. 

Bog muttered in shock. “Well fuck me, it worked!” He glanced over to Sunny who was still sitting with his hands over his eyes. “Sunny, it worked!” 

Dawn squealed with delight, shaking Sunny. “It worked!!!” 

Sunny slowly dropped his fingers from his eyes. “It did?” 

Bog yelled at the others. “Come on guys, get the cages ready! Let’s go get them!!” 

Sunny stood up slowly, his voice quiet in shocked surprise, his brown eyes wide. “It worked...it really worked.” 

Dawn giggled kissing his cheek. “I knew it would!! I knew it!” 

Everyone rushed in just as one of the compound men cut the tree down, not a practice that Bog really liked, but it would make the task of capturing the monkeys easier than yanking them down from the tree. 

Their group swarmed in under the net in their protective gear and started to grab monkeys as gently as they could, then transfer them to the opening in the tent where they would be put in small boxes. From there the monkeys were transferred to one of a couple of trucks that had large, open cages on the back that could hold several monkeys comfortably with large sticks for them to play and sit on, as well as food and water. 

Bog chuckled as he came over to the end opening, holding four monkeys by the tail to transfer to boxes. He glanced at Marianne who was coming over with two of her own. His heart skipped a couple of beats watching her, working right along with the rest of them, not scared or disgusted by the animals. Instead she was smiling, being as careful and gentle as she could and simply enjoying the work. 

Bog pressed his lips together as he watched her for a few seconds, her smile bright behind her silly looking helmet. She was special, he thought, beautiful, smart, and unafraid. 

He was falling in love with her despite himself. 

* 

That evening, after dinner, everyone was happily exhausted sitting in the front room and enjoying the lazy evening breeze. 

Marianne was playing something soft and mellow at the piano. She had showered and dressed in something light, white slacks and a sleeveless green shirt, a green bow in her brown hair, while Bog, wearing simple khaki slacks and a blue button down shirt, played cards with Ian. Roland was listening to Brandy softly read to him while Brutus and Pare argued quietly about baseball teams back in the States. Lizzie was snoring softly. 

Sunny and Dawn were sitting together on the couch; Dawn had dozed off. Sunny slowly eased out from under her and laid her down before he walked over to Bog and Ian. 

Ian saw him from the corner of his eye. “Uh oh, here he comes. He is never going to let us hear the end of that damn rocket.” 

Bog chuckled looking at his cards. “He earned it.” 

Sunny walked over, weaving just slightly. It was clear the little man had had a little too much to drink in celebration of his plan working. The small man sank into a chair at the table, his voice slurring slightly. 

“That rocket really worked, didn't it Bog?” He grinned at his best friend and boss. 

Bog smirked looking at his cards. “It sure did Sunny. Told ya, no one can ever say your inventions don’t work.” 

Sunny grinned brightly. “Thanks Bog.” Then his face fell. “I didn’t get to see it…” He sounded as if he was on the verge of tears. “I was hiding behind a tree with my eyes covered and Dawn on me and I didn’t see it…” He sniffed dramatically forcing Bog to stifle a laugh, especially when Sunny drunkenly asked, tears in his eyes. “Tell me how it looked Bog.” 

Ian muttered, rolling his eyes. “We’ve told you twice Sunny.” 

“I know, tell me again,” Sunny asked with a sniff. 

Bog struggled to school his features as he looked over at Sunny. He had been avoiding looking at him because he knew he would burst into laughter at the sad, drunken face of his friend. He breathed through his nose a few times to swallow the chuckles before he spoke. “It shot right up and went right over the tree just as pretty as a picture Sunny. Took that net right over the tree just like you said it would.” 

Bog quickly grabbed his beer to take a sip as Sunny blinked back tears. “Did the monkeys get away Bog?” he asked, sniffing and drunkenly crying. 

“We got nearly five hundred of them Sunny,” he said with as straight a face as he could. 

“A thousand dollars worth…” Ian added with a smile. 

“Tell me about the smoke,” Sunny sniffled. 

“Oh, Ian had a better view of that than I did.” Bog looked over at Ian who gave him a dirty look. 

Ian sighed, taking a breath. “There it was, the great silver rocket…” 

Sobbing, Sunny muttered. “It was red and blue!” 

“The great red and blue rocket…” Ian corrected himself, then as dramatic a voice as any movie announcer, Ian said grandly.. “...left a white trail against the blue sky!” 

Sunny sniffed at Bog. “You never told it like that! It must have been beautiful,” Sunny moaned. 

Ian pressed his lips together with a laugh as he said. “Oh it was.” 

“Bog, tell me again…” Sunny weeped. 

Bog sighed, chuckling. “It went just like you said it would. Gin.” He smirked over at Ian laying his cards down. 

Ian looked shocked looking at Bog’s cards as Sunny sniffled. “I had my hands over my eyes…” He cried softly.“Tell me again…” 

Bog sighed looking over at Sunny. “Sunny, go to bed.” 

Sunny sobbed standing up. “Yeah, that’s a good idea...a white trail…” he muttered as he wandered over and shook Dawn awake. Dawn rubbed her eyes, stretched, and stood up just as Sunny whimpered to her drunkenly. “A white trail!” 

Dawn giggled wrapping her arm around his waist. “All right now, no more celebration drinking for you.” 

Sunny nodded then wailed as she led him off. “I covered my eyes!!” 

* 

Early the next morning, Bog dressed in jeans and a shirt, looking fresh, well rested and well fed on his mother’s cooking, had just walked out onto the front porch to have a cigarette and maybe look for Marianne. She had disappeared right after breakfast. He was casually looking around the compound for a sign of her when he saw Marianne, dressed in work clothes and a pair of waders, a bucket in her hand, walking purposefully across the compound, baby elephants surrounding her. Despite the elephants’ size, they were jogging to keep up with her quick steps. Their little group looked to be heading off the compound. 

Bog watched her with a frown, his brows coming down over his blue eyes. “Where the hell is she going?” 

Pare and Lizzie, who were sitting in a couple of the front porch chairs, their guns taken apart lying across some towels as they cleaned them, looked up at the same time like a pair of twins before going straight back to their gun parts cleaning. 

Pare answered without looking up from cleaning the frame of his weapon. “She said something about the elephants being hot.” 

Lizzie added, also without looking up. “She’s taking them for a swim.” 

Bog groaned. “By herself? That woman is so stubborn!” He threw his hands into the air before grumbling and stuffing his unlit cigarette into his pants pocket. “Fine, I’ll go get a gun and follow her, make sure she doesn’t get herself into trouble.” He muttered under his breath about stubborn women, baby elephants, and why no one listened to him. 

Pare looked over his shoulder watching Bog hurry into the house for a rifle. “Marianne is good for him I think.” 

Lizzie laughed. “She definitely keeps him on his toes.” 

They both shared a chuckled, which only became louder as Bog dashed out of the house, rifle in hand trying to catch up to Marianne and her trio of baby elephants. 

* 

Bog hurried to catch up to Marianne and the elephants, his rifle in hand, but they were moving at a quick pace and had a lead on him. When he came up over the ridge they had taken to the water hole, Bog could see them, Marianne and her babies, a little ways ahead of him heading to a large body of water located outside of the compound. He stopped on the ridge and sighed with a shake of his head, watching Marianne and her elephants as she led the babies into the middle of the pond. 

He grinned, leaning against a rock as he watched her playing with the elephants in the water. She was a natural, a natural mother, a lover of animals. She was sweet, tough, caring, and so utterly without any of the stuffiness of his ex fiancee, which he found he loved. She didn’t mind getting in there and letting herself get wet and muddy. She had zipped right in there with the rest of them to rangle monkeys without complaint or one protest. Bog was helplessly in love with her, with everything about her. There was still a little, dark part of him that whispered he was being a fool, but he ignored it. 

He was in love with Marianne, it was that simple. 

Scooping up a bucket full of water, Marianne splashed it on the elephants who were grabbing trunkfuls of water and spraying themselves and each other. 

Marianne was laughing at the babies. One of the elephants was soaking his head down into the water while another fell over on their side and started to kick and flop around. 

Bog chuckled watching as Marianne rubbed the babies down, pouring water on them, splashing with them until both she and the three elephants were soaked. Her laughter could be heard clearly which only made Bog’s heart beat a little faster and harder, making his love for her a little stronger. 

“Okay babies! Home!” Marianne started to leave the water, the elephants falling into line behind her. 

Bog smiled waiting for her as she and the elephants came back up the ridge, the elephants staying close to Marianne like she was their real mother, and maybe she was he thought with a smile before he grumbled and said, “I thought I told you not to leave the compound without a gun, or someone with you who is carrying a gun.” 

Marianne shrugged. “I didn’t think it was all that far and I can’t handle a gun and them.” She gave him a cute, “I’m so innocent” smile. 

Bog gave her a look that said he knew she was being cute as he snarled with little heat in his voice, “Far enough to get you in trouble.” Bog pointed back at the water with the rifle. “That’s a watering hole, the only one around here, which means every animal comes here to drink and some of those animals can be hungry preda…” That was when they both heard a trumpeting sound that came out like a roar from somewhere down below, near the water. 

Bog went still, as did Marianne. They couldn’t quite see, but there seemed to be shapes moving behind the trees that lined the otherside of the watering hole. 

The baby elephants became agitated. 

Bog cursed. 

“What is it?” Marianne asked with wide eyes looking toward the water as she tried he reassure her charges, the little elephants touching her with their trunks for reassurance. 

“Some of Tembo’s grandfathers maybe…” Bog muttered, staring at the shapes. “Keep walking,” he said, his eyes on the landscape, voice low. “I’ll go take a look.” 

Marianne watched as Bog started to move down over the ridge. He didn’t look behind him, but he instructed, “Get to that crop of trees and stay over there.” 

Marianne hurried over to the trees without comment. She knew Bog well enough to trust him completely. She walked to the trees but at a quick pace, the little elephants dutifully following her. Bog continued down into the taller grass heading around the side of the watering hole, toward the shadows on the other side. He held his rifle ready until he saw them, a group of elephants. He moved slowly, careful to keep an eye on the large animals for any sign of danger. There was a herd with some young elephants as well as adults, a family. One of the adults was making the racket, trumpeting threateningly and when the elephant saw Bog, it started to charge. 

From the trees Marianne watched intently, her heart hammering in her chest. She couldn’t see everything clearly, but she could see the elephant and Bog’s back. All she could think about was how Bog could get hurt; it would take so little for an elephant to crush the life out of him. She bit her bottom lip gazing at him. She was completely in love with him, so much so that her chest hurt and she felt a wave of nausea at the mere hint that Bog could get hurt. He looked dashing though, her lust for the man made sure she noticed as he stood there, ready to put his life on the line for her and the elephants. 

Bog shot the rifle into the air and the weapon’s loud sound gave the elephant pause. It backed up a few steps before once more charging toward Bog threateningly. He didn’t move, didn’t give ground, Instead Bog shot the rifle again into the air. 

This time the second shot seemed to be enough for the herd to turn around and hurry in the opposite direction. 

Bog stayed where he was watching them go, his entire body held tight, tension in every muscle, his breathing hard as the threat disappeared. Unless he shot the animal point blank, there wasn’t much he could really have done. That elephant would have charged him and if he didn’t get out of the way in time he would have been gored on a tusk or crushed. Even if he had moved out of the way, the elephant could have sideswiped him, which might have ended up with him having a broken arm or ribs, leaving him at the elephant’s mercy if it turned around to try and crush him while he was down. 

Elephants weren’t normally overly aggressive, but this one had little ones to protect. He completely understood. 

Once the elephants were gone, Marianne and her elephants rushed over making a racket in the grass. “Bog!” 

“I’m fine, I think they're gone for now,” he said, his shoulders sagging. 

“I thought you were going to have to shoot him!” Marianne gasped as she gently touched Bog’s arm, then reached up to cup his cheek. 

He chuckled, blushing slightly as he leaned into her touch. “That wasn’t a male, that was a female. She was protecting her baby or maybe she was upset because you have three and she only has one...” Bog raised an eyebrow at Marianne who simply smirked at him. 

He shook his head with a chuckle. “Come on.” 

Marianne quickly hopped onto her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you for defending us daddy.” 

“Daddy?” Bog asked in shock only to have Marianne laugh at him and hurriedly run off, her elephants giving chase. He watched her go, his heart doing a little flip in his chest before shaking his head and following her, a smirk on his lips. 

“Daddy…” he muttered with a chuckle.


	9. Last Catch

Bog chewed on his bottom lip while looking up at the chalkboard where they had listed all the animals they needed to capture, for which zoos, and in how many numbers. They were down to just one now… 

Pare frowned, standing next to Bog and leaning on his cane. He didn’t look happy. “So, you’re going to try it?” 

Bog nodded and looked down at the papers in his hand. “Yep, your rhinos are the last thing we need to get.” 

“You know I don't think this is a good idea. You also know that I think going after those rhinos is a curse, but I ain’t going to waste any more of my breath on telling you.” Pare leveled a stern look at Bog. “But at least use the power wagon for herding…” 

Bog slowly shook his head, folding the paper and sticking it in his back pocket. “It’s slower…” 

“But it’s higher, a rhino can’t get up into it like it can the jeep,” Pare pointed out. 

Bog turned around and walked over to where others sat around the room. Marianne, Roland, Ian, and Brandy sat at the table in the middle of the room playing a game of cards; judging by the pile of coins in the middle they were playing poker. Lizzie was over at the bar fixing herself and Pare drinks while Bog’s mother sat with Brutus on the couch, the two of them shoulder to shoulder looking over a magazine together while Sunny sat in one of the lounge chairs, Dawn on his lap, the two of them whispering and kissing like a couple of love struck teenagers. 

“Okay, we’ll take the power wagon, two ropes tomorrow too. I want you Roland…” Bog pointed at Roland who was slumped down in his chair glaring at his cards. “... in the wagon with Lizzie and an extra lasso.” Bog frowned, taking a breath. “All right, we need to get up early if we’re going after rhinos so everyone should hit the sack early. I don’t want any fuzzy heads or hangovers.” Bog gave everyone a stern, fatherly glare. 

Marianne hopped up from her place at the table, setting her cards down face up so that everyone could see she had just won the hand (Roland cursed and Ian groaned loudly, “Not again!”) before she hurried over to wrap her arms around Bog’s waist, gazing up at him with the cutest of smiles on her lips. 

Bog blushed, glancing around at everyone who was staring at him and Marianne, his arms held out a little awkwardly as if he wasn’t sure what to do with them while other people were watching them. “Uh…” was the only coherent reply he could give as he looked down into her stunning brown eyes. 

“Ask to walk me to bed, Bog.” Marianne leaned her chin against his chest, her voice low and seductive. “Please.” 

Bog blushed brighter. Hell, he could feel the tips of his ears turning red, but he couldn’t stop himself from smiling as he looked down at her. She was lovely, with her large brown eyes and rosebud mouth. He swallowed and whispered. 

“Can I walk you to your room?” 

“I thought you would never ask.” She giggled softly and hopped onto her toes to brush a kiss against his lips before turning and waving with one hand as she took his hand with her other. “Good night everyone.” 

“Good night!” everyone called back. 

Griselda smirked. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” 

“Mother!!” Bog sounded scandalized, which caused his mother and everyone in the room to laugh as a giggling Marianne tugged him from the room. 

They were both quiet as Marianne led them outside onto the back porch. Once they were outside, she turned around and gently forced him back against the wall. 

Bog smiled, leaning his back against the stone, wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her close. “Thought I was escorting you to bed?” 

“Oh, you are, we’re just taking a detour,” Marianne murmured before wrapping her arms around his shoulders and leaned in for a deep, passionate kiss. Bog shivered with pleasure when her tongue slid into his mouth, soft and warm, her lips petal soft against his own. 

Marianne’s fingers caressed the back of his neck before gently slipping into his hair, her kiss more vigorous. Bog’s hands snaked down her back to slide along her rear, the first daring move he had made since she had kissed him the first time. Marianne felt a shiver of pleasure when he spread his fingers and cupped her rear, pulling her closer up against him. 

They kissed for several long, erotic minutes, both of them forgetting that anyone could come out onto the porch. 

After a few more tense moments Bog pulled away, breathless, leaning his forehead against hers and grinned. “I like that goodnight kiss.” 

Marianne giggled, her face reddening. “Me too.” 

They were both quiet for a few moments, just enjoying each other's company when Marianne finally spoke, her voice a tense whisper. “I’m worried about tomorrow.” 

Bog frowned, reaching up to cup her chin lightly and tilted her face up so he could look into her eyes. “You've been talking to Pare?” 

She nodded. “And Lizzie and Brandy. Bog, he’s right, rhinos are so dangerous, and what if there is a jinx...or a curse? I know it’s silly, but…” She blinked back the sudden sting of tears, but they escaped regardless of her intentions, sitting on her lashes for a moment, glittering in the light from the house before falling down her cheeks. “I just don’t know what I would do if anything happened to you Bog.” 

Bog frowned, his chest tightening. He’d never had anyone worry about him before, not like this, not like her. He smiled and reached up to gently brush her tears away with his thumb. “I’ve been doing this a long time Marianne. I promise I’ll be careful…” 

She nodded, swallowing hard. “I know you will, but...I bet Pare was careful, and Brandy’s father too…” 

“I won’t lie to you Marianne and tell you everything will be all right because I don’t know that. Anything can happen out there, but I will tell you I’ll be careful and I’ve captured a lot of animals. I respect how dangerous they are and…” He smiled, blushing a little. “...I have someone I want to be careful for. So I can promise you I’ll do everything in my power to be safe.” 

Marianne gazed into his eyes, her own still brimming with tears of fear, but she sighed, wrapped her arms around his waist, and laid her cheek against his chest. Bog wrapped his arms around her and held her close, resting his face against her hair as he closed his eyes. 

Marianne murmured softly, “After tomorrow, I guess the season is over.” 

She felt Bog stiffen and nod. “Yeah.” 

“Everyone will be going…” she continued. 

“Yeah, except for me, my mother, and Sunny…” he whispered. He knew that Sunny had asked Dawn to stay and she had agreed. He wanted desperately to ask Marianne to stay, but there was something in his heart that stopped him. The memory of his heart being broken, the way he had been torn down and left bleeding by someone he loved who he thought loved him in return. The thought of it happening again, of Marianne breaking his heart made Bog go stiff. He realized he was terrified, terrified of opening himself up completely to her, of being vulnerable again. That fear kept his lips tight. 

Marianne could feel the stiffness in him and it broke her heart. She didn’t know if she should ask to stay--would he want her? What if she was wrong? What if he didn’t really want her? He liked her for the season, but would be happy to see her go? She didn’t believe that, she realized, not one bit, but she knew he was hurt, that her broken heart was still an open wound and he was scared to love again, scared of being hurt, rejected. 

Marianne didn’t know what to do that would assure him that her feelings for him were genuine and deep. 

Neither of them said anything more. There wasn’t anything else to say. 

After a bit more time holding each other, Bog swallowed and whispered, “We should get to bed, tomorrow is going to be busy.” 

Marianne stepped back from him, looking up into his haunted blue eyes. “You’re right...good night Bog.” 

He pressed his lips together before he whispered, “Good night Marianne.” 

He watched her walk away, taking half his heart with her. 

* 

The next morning dawned bright and hot. 

Their little caravan had driven out into the plains and were searching for a herd when Ian, who was in the back of the power wagon that was being driven by Lizzie, reached down and touched her shoulder. She frowned and glanced back at Ian, who pointed behind them. 

Lizzie turned, her eyes widening behind her goggles a moment before she reached down and picked up her CB handset to call the truck that held Sunny, Dawn, and Marianne, along with Bog and Brutus riding in the back. 

“Hey Sunny, you guys have a tagalong!” she called into the CB. “You should put the bed down and let him jump on!” 

Sunny frowned glancing sideways at Dawn and Marianne. “Tagalong?” 

That was the moment that the rhino that had been chasing them raced up and hit the back of the truck. The impact wasn’t enough to cause any real damage or knock the truck to the side, but it did rattle everyone. Bog and the others turned to see the rhino giving chase. The rhino slammed its armored head into the back of the truck a few more times before taking off to run alongside of them. 

Bog smirked, adjusted his goggles before he thumped the roof of the truck yelling down at Sunny. “Tell Lizzie we’re going to take this one. He clearly wants a ride!” 

Sunny grinned as he picked up the handset. “Okay Liz, we’re going after this one!” 

Roland grinned at Lizzie and swung himself into the back of the power wagon, grabbing the lasso while Bog in the truck did the same. Both vehicles raced up to block the rhino on either side. 

The truck holding Bog sped up just a little ahead of the rhino while Lizzie and Roland brought up the rear. 

Bog called down to Sunny. “Man, he’s a big one...don’t hurry...” 

Sunny nodded yelling back. “I’ll be careful, nice and slow.” 

Marianne started to lean out the passenger window with her camera only to have Bog reach over and shove her back in. She shot him a dirty look he didn’t see, but she didn’t pop her head out, content to take pictures from inside the truck. 

The truck raced closer to the rhino, only to have the big male turn and slam it’s head against them, forcing them to turn away. Lizzie raced up on the other side, trying to force the rhino to turn, but the animal surprised them as it completely turned around to confront the power wagon, charging and slamming its horned head into their grill. The rhino backed up and hit them again just as Sunny brought the truck closer. 

“I thought you guys were chasing him, not the other way around!” Bog yelled with a smirk on his lips only to have Roland yell back. “Well I think you should explain that to him!” 

Bog’s answer was a laugh. 

The rhino answered by hitting the wagon again before turning and speeding off, running far quicker than an animal that size should be able to move. Sunny took off after the rhino while Lizzie maneuvered the wagon to pin the animal between both vehicles. Bog leaned dangerously far out of the truck bed with the lasso and hooked the loop around the rhino’s head. The animal immediately began to fight. It twisted itself around until it was behind the truck, but Lizzie drove alongside the big animal allowing Roland to get his lasso around the animal’s head as well. Now they had both lassos around its neck, held between the two vehicles, the rhino fighting with all its strength. Bog was shouting orders as the rhino twisted, jumped, bucked, and flung it’s horned head around. 

All the men got out of the vehicles, looping more ropes around the rhino, which continued to fight with increasing agitation. Bog, along with Brutus and two other men, were pulling back on two ropes while Roland and Ian, along with a few other men were pulling the other way trying to wear the animal out. Pare and Brandy drove up in another truck that held the crate for transporting the rhino back to the compound. He frowned as he brought the truck to a stop. He leaned out the window, watching from the truck, going a little pale at the sight of the rhino. Brandy leaned close, looking over Pare’s shoulder, her heart beating hard with nervous fear when she saw Roland out there pulling on the ropes with the others. 

Bog yelled and hauled back on his rope, the veins in his arms standing out, sweat pouring down his face. “We need to get him off his feet!! Lizzie pulled the wagon forward just a little!” 

Marianne watched from the truck with Dawn, her heart going a mile a minute as she watched Bog and the other men out there with the animal--which, up this close, she realized was far larger than she had realized. Her palms had become sweaty, her eyes wide with fear while Bog shouted commands, the rhino fighting them every step of the way. 

Lizzie pulled her vehicle forward just a little, but it was enough to knock the rhino onto its side. While everyone else held their ropes taut, Bog rushed over to the rhino in an attempt to not only make sure the animal was all right, but to hopefully secure the head down so that no one would get hurt. 

Just as Bog rushed over, the beast rolled back up onto it’s knees--though it didn’t push itself up to its feet--and it was able to fling it’s head around, the horn slashing dangerously at the air just as Bog came near it. The rhino thrust its head forward at Bog who just barely managed to dance out of the way, avoiding the horn by mere inches. He was doing his best to check the animal, while simultaneously dodging to the side and putting his hands against its back, trying to push the rhino back down each time the animal tried to rise. Bog was jumping the ropes and trying to avoid the horn that the animal kept trying to spear him with whenever he was close to its head. His long legs and quick reflexes were serving him well, but each time the rhino lunged for him Marianne’s heart stopped. 

Bog tried again to secure the animal's head, but the rhino was not going down. Even as they managed to get it on its side again, each time Bog approached its head, the rhino swung its horn around trying to hit Bog who kept just barely avoiding being skewered. 

After a few more tense moments, the animal seemed to wear down; it stopped trying to get up. 

Bog grinned, wiping sweat from his brow as he glanced over at Pare. “Looks like your jinx might be broken after all.” 

Pare smiled back and nodded. “Maybe…” 

Brandy yelled. “BOG!” 

He turned around to see the rhino had lunged back to its feet, whipping its head out of the ropes and was quickly freeing itself from the rest while the men struggled to hold on. 

Bog ran over yelling. “FUCK! Don’t let yourselves get tangled in the ropes!!” 

The ropes slipped off the rhino, only one or two were still around it’s back legs as the rhino pulled away from the vehicles. Bog grabbed up one of the ropes along with the other men and pulled, trying to bring the rhino back down, but the animal pulled it completely free and spun around. 

Everyone went still, but instead of charging them, the rhino spun back the other way and took off. 

Bog growled turning and stomping back to the truck. “Fuck it…” He sighed turning back to the others. “Guess we get to start over again.” 

Hurriedly they all rushed to their vehicles and hopped on board before racing off after the rhino. When they caught up, the animal spun around and hit the truck Bog and Marianne were in. 

Marianne yelped as the animal slammed into their side, close to Bog, as if the rhino sensed who was in charge and wanted to get at him more than anyone else. The animal continued to turn and slam into Bog’s side of the truck, running off a little before turning and slamming against the truck over and over. 

Bog growled as Sunny pulled the truck off a little to give Bog room with the lasso even as the rhino slammed into them again as if the rhino had a vendetta against Bog. 

Bog grinned in anticipation. When the animal came close again, he looped his lasso over its head and held on. The animal struggled, twisting around to the front of the truck. Bog held on as the others hurried and started to throw ropes around the rhino’s head, another around a leg until they had three of the animal's legs tied up and several around the head in a struggle to control the rhino using its horn. The animal was tired and Bog was afraid of hurting the animal as they all struggled to secure it. The last thing he wanted was to hurt a beautiful beast, no matter how difficult catching it was. 

Bog yelled. “Grab the lines!” he shouted before he ran to the head of the animal, grabbing one of the ropes around the animal’s head and pulling back trying to control its head before she hurt herself or someone else. “PULL, get her off her feet!! Try to be gentle though!” Bog yelled even as he strained to control the animal. 

The men pulled at Bog’s shout and the rhino fell onto its side. Bog was close to the animal's head, trying to hold the ropes that held the head steady while at the same time trying to make sure the animal wasn’t hurt. It was a dangerous balancing act. 

Marianne leaned out of the truck, taking pictures even as her heart pounded against her breastbone and her hands shook. She was so scared for him, but she focused on taking the pictures, her attention to the details of the capture, watching the man she loved work. She studied his face as she snapped shots. He had shoved his goggles up at some point and his blue eyes were bright against the dust and dirt that now covered his face. There were rivulets in the dirt on his face from sweat, and his shirt was sticking to him in places while he worked. Her eyes wandered to his forearms where his shirt sleeves were rolled up, then along his legs. Marianne felt a deep ache of desire for Bog; he was extremely sexy when he was sweaty and dirty she realized. 

Finally after a few more tense moments, the rhino was secured, having exhausted itself. The group of men were able to tie both sets of feet and secured the animal’s head enough that it stopped struggling. Bog sighed, smiling as he walked over and gently patted the rhino on it’s side. 

“You gave us a good chase,” he said fondly. 

Marianne called out. “Bog! Over here!” 

He looked up and Marianne felt her heart skip. His dark hair was a mess, his face covered in sweat and dust, his clothing dusty, with sweat glittering on his throat and the exposed portion of his collar. She had never seen him look more attractive, sexier than in that moment. Smiling Marianne snapped several pictures of Bog with his hand gently stroking the rhino’s side. 

She lowered her camera, biting her bottom lip. “Thanks.” 

Bog smiled at her, oblivious to the affect he just had on her. 

* 

That evening after Bog had showered and dressed, there was a knock at his door. He was just buttoning up his shirt as he yelled. “It’s open.” 

He glanced up to see Brutus. “Hey.” 

Bog smiled. “You cleaned up fast.” 

Brutus was freshly showered and dressed in beige slacks and a grey dress shirt. “It feels good to be done.” 

Bog snorted as he picked up a brush to run through his still slightly damp hair. “We won’t be done until we get the animals to the ships in Mombasa. Once they're on board, then we’re done for the season.” 

Brutus shrugged. “That's the easy part.” 

“True.” Bog gave up on his hair and turned around, snatched up a pack of cigarettes on the table and offered one to Brutus who took one. “So, what are your plans until next season?” Bog asked as he pulled one out for himself and picked up a book of matches. He lit a match, holding it up to Brutus’s cigarette and then his own before he flicked his wrist to extinguish the match. 

Brutus took a long drag on the cigarette, letting the smoke out slowly before he answered. “I don’t know really. I was thinking about asking your mother if she wanted to go see a few sights with me in Paris,” Brutus said matter-of-factly, but he was watching Bog intently. 

“What?” Bog had just taken a drag off his cigarette and started to cough. He cleared his throat looking startled as he stared at Brutus. “My mother? And you?” 

“Roland and Brandy might come with us for part of the trip,” Brutus added quickly. 

“What?” Bog looked confused. 

Brutus shrugged a little. “It’s just a trip as friends, nothing more…” 

Bog shook his head. “So, are you asking me or telling me?” 

Brutus chuckled. “Maybe a little bit of both.” 

Bog smirked, taking a drag on his cigarette when Brutus asked, “So, what about Marianne? I know Dawn is staying, but…” 

Bog frowned and shrugged. “I don’t know.” 

“You haven’t said anything to her?” Brutus asked, his expression incredulous. 

Bog shrugged looking disappointed. 

“Want my opinion?” Brutus asked. 

Bog blew smoke out of his nostrils and pursed his lips before looking up at his friend. “Do I have a choice?” 

Brutus simply laughed, but Bog’s expression turned serious. “I don’t know what to do Brutus. I...I wanted to talk to her last night, but there was work to do and…” He left it hanging and shook his head. 

Brutus sighed. “Bog, you can make the time. What’s stopping you? Do you not care about her that much?” 

Bog gasped, shaking his head. “NO! No, no, of course not. I…” He rubbed his lips together and reached up to rub the back of his neck. “There's just something about her Brutus. I like her, I really, really like her.” Bog frowned looking down at his shoes. “I like her enough that it scares me...scares me a lot.” 

Brutus looked surprised. “Are you two that serious?” 

“I...I don’t know. I mean we’ve kissed, but...I don’t know. I don’t know her that well and she doesn't know me, not really,” Bog muttered. “What if she doesn't feel that much for me? What if I was just some fun...” 

Brutus gave Bog a narrow eyed look. “Do you really believe that?” 

“No…” Bog relented with a sag in his shoulders. “But I still worry we don’t know each other…” 

“Oh, so the entire hunting season wasn’t enough time?” Brutus asked with raised eyebrows. “It’s only been a lousy three months…” 

“You’re an ass,” Bog said with a sour tone. 

Brutus smirked with a small nod. “Yes I am, but that’s beside the point. You’re scared, I get that after what happened before, but Marianne is different isn’t she?” 

Bog nodded and said, his voice soft, “Yes, she’s different, it’s what I like about her. She’s like no one I’ve ever met before…” 

Brutus walked over and put his cigarette out in Bog’s ashtray. “Why don’t you ask her to come back next year?” 

Bog frowned, looking as if Brutus had just torn his heart out. “Next year?” 

“Yeah, it’s not like she’s all that attractive. She’d probably be fine waiting to see you in another year...it’s not like she’s gonna meet anyone like you in Europe or wherever she goes…” Brutus smirked before turning and walking over to the door. 

Bog growled. “I’m gonna break your nose.” He started to stomp toward the door. “Let’s go get dinner.” 

Brutus fought to keep himself from chuckling. “You shouldn’t go to dinner. I mean you shouldn’t be around Marianne--keep exposing yourself to her charms, who knows what might happen?” 

Bog sighed, rolling his eyes. “Fine, I get it, I’m being an idiot.” 

Brutus lifted his eyebrows and walked past Bog. “I didn’t say that.” 

Bog sighed again, running his fingers through his hair, messing up what he had managed to tame with the brush before he turned and followed Brutus out of the room. What was he going to do about Marianne? 

The thought of her leaving made his chest ache. 

* 

Marianne was sitting in her room on her bed, in the dark, staring out the window. She was dressed for dinner in a light, lavender summer sweater and white capris, her hair styled, her makeup just so, but she couldn’t seem to get herself on her feet to go to dinner. Her heart felt heavy and she felt...lost. 

She was still sitting there, staring out the window when she heard a knock at her door. 

Sighing, Marianne called out. “It’s open.” 

“Hey Marianne I…” She turned around to see Sunny and her sister both dressed up for a dinner in town, her sister in a cute yellow sundress and Sunny in slacks and a white button down shirt. 

Sunny frowned, glancing at Dawn before he asked. “You coming with us into town to celebrate?” 

“I don’t think so...I have some work to do, and I should pack,” Marianne muttered, her gaze drifting back to the window, but not really seeing anything. 

Dawn looked confused. “You’re packing? But I thought you and Bog were going to talk about you staying?” 

Marianne turned away from them. “I thought he would bring it up after the rhino was captured, but he never did. He never said a word.” She sniffed, angry. Pain-filled tears burned behind her eyes. “I...I...thought he would have said something by now, but he hasn’t. I...” 

Sunny walked over to her, glancing at Dawn who hurried around the bed and over to sit on the other side of the bed next to her sister. 

He put his hand on Marianne’s shoulder, giving her shoulder a squeeze while her little sister put her arm around her big sister’s waist. “I’m sorry,” he said softly, not knowing what else he could say.. 

Marianne sniffed and murmured. “I blame that witch who hurt him. I just feel like sometimes, when he kisses me, or touches me...he’s happy for a moment, but then her ghost is there, like an evil wraith coming between us.” She sniffed again and wiped at her nose angrily. “I just...she hurt him worse than he’s willing to admit and that hurt is keeping us apart despite...well, despite everything.” 

She held herself tight for another few heartbeats, but then Marianne broke down into soft, painful sobs. Dawn pulled her sister’s head against her chest and reached up to stroke her hair. 

Marianne's words were muffled by her sobs. “I...I can’t stand the thought of him looking at me and wondering if I’m going to be like her.” Marianne broke down into harder sobs. “I just…” 

Dawn frowned looking over at Sunny, who looked just as upset and uncertain what to do as she felt. Marianne wasn’t wrong, Sunny knew; Bog was letting his past stand in the way of his possible future. 

After another few moments, Marianne sniffed. “Just go without me.” 

Dawn started to protest, but Marianne shook her head pushing her sister away and stood up. She walked over to her window, wrapping her arms around herself. “I don’t want to go, I don’t want to...I don’t want to see him,” she murmured, wiping at her eyes. 

Dawn got to her feet. “Marianne, please…” 

But her sister just shook her head. 

Sunny sighed and walked over to take Dawn’s hand, gently tugging her away from her sister. “If you need anything, you give us a call at the bar.” 

Marianne nodded without looking at them. Dawn looked as if she wanted to protest, but Sunny pulled her along, giving his head a quick shake. Dawn looked torn, but she let Sunny lead her from the room leaving Marianne alone. 

* 

In the main room of the house Sunny called out as he and Dawn stepped in. “All right, let’s get going.” 

Bog, who was standing near the doorway with his mother, looked confused. “Where’s Marianne?” he asked looking behind Sunny and Dawn expecting Marianne to be there. 

“She says she isn’t coming. She’s got work to do,” Sunny muttered. 

Griselda smacked Bog hard enough in the stomach that he let out a pained gasp and bent over. “What did you do?” Griselda demanded. 

“I didn’t do anything!” Bog winced, holding his stomach as he growled at his mother. 

“Well, I’m sure you did something!” Griselda glared at her son. 

Bog grumbled standing straight with a wince. “I’ll go see if I can get her to change her mind.” 

“Good,” Griselda snapped before she walked over and linked her arm with Brutus’ arm. “See that you do.” She gave her son the evil eye, pointing at her eyes with her fingers then back at him, before pulling Brutus along with her outside. Brutus chuckled and shrugged at Bog. Everyone else followed the two of them out while Bog, able to breathe again, headed to Marianne’s room, a confused frown on his narrow face. 

* 

When he arrived at her door, Bog knocked lightly. “Marianne?” 

Her voice was slightly muffled, but she murmured “Come in.” 

Bog entered her room frowning when he saw Marianne standing by her window in the dark. He reached over to turn the light on, but Marianne muttered. “Don’t, leave it off.” 

“Okay…” Bog said softly, clearly confused. “Marianne...what’s wrong?” 

“Nothing,” she snapped at him, but there wasn’t any real heat in her voice as she turned her back on him. 

Bog frowned and walked over to her. “Marianne…” He stopped when he was by the window. He looked at her profile, the light from outside highlighting the tears in her eyes when she glanced at him. “Marianne...you’ve been crying…” Bog’s voice was startled and he began to reach out and brush her tears with his finger, but she pulled away from him. “So? It’s nothing,” she muttered. 

“You don’t cry over nothing,” Bog said gently. “Come on Marianne, you can tell me…” He tried to touch her again, but she pulled herself away from him. 

Marianne refused to look at him, turning away so that her back was to him. “I...I just scratched myself. It hurts is all.” 

“What?” Bog looked confused. “When?” 

“When what?” Marianne snapped with a sniff. 

“When did you scratch yourself?” Bog asked, becoming exasperated. 

“Going through some brush today...just forget about it!” Marianne snapped, but Bog growled at her. 

“Where did you scratch yourself?” 

“On my shoulder!!” she hissed back at him half turning toward him when she snapped. 

Bog narrowed his eyes at her, grabbed her by her shoulders and spun her around. Gently, but firmly, Bog lifted up her sweater where he did indeed see a scratch on her shoulder. 

“Well, no wonder it hurts, there’s a thorn still in it.” He grumbled gently reaching for the thorn and pulled it out. Marianne winced in response as Bog said more softly. “Need to put some iodine on it…” 

“You need iodine!” Marianne snapped and pulled away from him, her sweater falling back into place. 

“What are you talking about?” Bog growled with building frustration. 

“Because you’re hurt!” Marianne turned and yelled at him even as more tears ran down her cheeks. 

Bog looked completely confused. “What are you talking about? I am not hurt!” 

“You are too, you just won’t admit it!! UGH!! Just go away!! You’re always coming around when I don’t want you!” Marianne started to cry again, throwing her arms up. “Just...just go!” 

Bog growled back at her. “FINE!! I’m going!!” 

He spun on his heel and stomped out of her room, slamming the door behind him. 

Marianne glared at the door, anger and sadness battling for dominance until she was crying angry, frustrated tears. She threw herself on her bed and buried her face in her pillow. 

* 

On the other side of the door Bog looked completely dejected. He had no idea what he had said or what he had done to make Marianne so upset. He was angry at her, but mostly at himself. If he was a better, smarter man maybe he would know what he had done and know how to fix it, but all he could do now was do as she asked. 

He sighed, rubbing both hands down his face to fight back his own angry, frustrated tears before he stomped outside to join the others.


	10. The End of the Season

Dinner was terrible. 

Bog’s mood was sour the entire time. Nothing lifted it, no amount of drinking, good food, jokes, conversation...nothing. He had eventually left to go stand outside by himself to let everyone else enjoy their meal without his foul mood spoiling everything. 

He glared out into the night, watching the occassional car drive by, and took a deep drag on his cigarette when he heard Dawn’s soft voice. “You okay?” 

Bog turned to look at her with a frown wrinkling his brow. He thought about lying, but instead he shrugged. “No. Your...your sister--I don’t understand her.” 

Dawn walked over and hopped up onto the railing that ran around the bar’s front porch. “What’s so difficult to understand?” 

“Well…” Bog flicked some ash off his cigarette into the dark. “She yelled at me, told me I was hurt, but...I’m fine.” 

Dawn raised a blonde eyebrow at him. “Are you?” 

“What are you talking about?” Bog growled again, clearly annoyed and confused. 

Dawn smiled gently. “Have you told her you love her?” 

“What?” Bog muttered, his eyes widening in surprise. 

“My sister--have you told her that you love her?” Dawn asked with a tilt of her head and a smirk on her lips. 

“I...ah…” Bog looked down uncomfortably at his shoes. He took another drag from his cigarette only noticing when it burned him that the cigarette was nearly a nub. He muttered incoherently and tossed the butt down before stomping on it. 

Dawn sighed. “Oh Bog, you are so silly. You should tell her, tell her how you feel about her.” 

Bog chewed his bottom lip while he continued to grind the cigarette butt into the floorboards of the bar’s front porch. “I don’t...don’t know,” He whispered, his voice catching a little. 

Dawn hopped down and came over to take his hands in hers. She smiled and looked up at him with wide, kind eyes. “Bog, tell me truthfully: do you love her?” 

Bog stared back at Dawn and without stopping himself or thinking twice about his answer, he said. “I do. I love your sister.” 

His voice broke as he muttered with annoyance, his hold on Dawn’s hands tightening slightly. “I love everything about her, how stubborn she is, how her eyes flash when she’s angry, how she gets in the way of everything, how she cares about those silly elephants, how she throws herself in without thinking about the danger or about her clothes or getting dirty. I love how she’s always taking pictures even when I yell at her, or how she smiles when she’s being annoying...” He shook his head and grinned. “I like how she wrinkles her nose or how her eyes twinkle when she’s happy...and how exasperated she gets. I like how she kisses...how she feels in my arms...” He blushed and bit his bottom lip before he murmured. “I...I love her Dawn. I love her like I’ve never loved anyone before.” 

“Then why haven’t you told her?” Dawn asked, giving his hands an irritated shake. 

Bog looked down at their joined hands. “I...I…” He closed his eyes and whispered. “I was hurt before, a lot deeper than I let on. She made me feel unwanted, undeserving, and I guess I still think she was right. What woman is gonna want to spend her time in the wilds of Africa chasing animals? I don’t want some life in the city or on a farm, I want to stay here, in the wild…” He shrugged. “She made damn sure I knew that I wasn’t worth the shit on her shoe and…” He pressed his lips together. “I guess I didn’t want anyone to know. I didn’t want Marianne to know I wasn’t worth her time...” He shook his head. “Fuck...I don’t know Dawn…” 

“Oh Bog.” Dawn’s voice broke and she pulled him closer to wrap her arms around him. Bog sighed and hugged her in return while Dawn spoke into his chest. “And that’s why you haven’t let Marianne in very far have you? You’re scared?” 

He nodded and whispered in response. “Sunny tell you? Pretty pathetic, huh?” 

“Yes he did. And no, you are not pathetic.” Dawn smiled and looked up at him. She stepped back, but took his hands in hers again. She gave his hands a firm squeeze. “Bog, you were hurt--hurt bad--but don’t let that hurt color what you’ve got with Marianne.” She smiled. “‘Course, her saying you are hurt makes more sense. I’m betting Sunny told her about your ex-fiancee.” 

Bog groaned and closed his eyes. He started to pull his hands away but Dawn wouldn’t let him. “Bog, Marianne is not your ex-fiancee--you know that right?” She looked up at him, her eyes wide and earnest as she tried to make him understand. 

“Yeah, I know…” he muttered. 

“She loves you. I know she does. I can see it in her eyes, in the way she talks about you, the way she smiles when she’s with you, and how angry she gets at you. My sister loves you, but she won’t stay unless you ask her to.” Dawn frowned at him. “Do you want her to stay?” 

“I…” Bog frowned then looked into Dawn’s eyes and whispered. “I don’t know.” 

“Well, I suggest you figure it out,” Dawn said softly before she let go of his hands and reached up to lightly touch his cheek before she turned and went back into the bar. 

Bog let out a heavy breath, frowning. His chest hurt. 

He looked out into the African darkness, not sure what he wanted. 

* 

Bog’s slept fitfully that night. 

Marianne’s light was out when they came home and he decided that he would wait until morning to speak with her, but his dreams were plagued with her leaving him, of him standing alone and watching her fly away from him, his heart broken. 

Bog woke up early, shadows under his eyes and his head pounding. He showered, dressed in his best shirt, a dark blue button down to which he added a brown vest, some khaki slacks, and a pair of his best work boots. He shaved and tried his best to get his hair to cooperate with him. His heart was beating quickly and his guts were doing a dance that made him feel like he was going to vomit. The thought of confessing his feelings to Marianne, of telling her the true depth of what he felt for her and the very idea of asking her to stay in Africa with him… 

God! He was sure his knees were going to give out on him. He had never in his life felt this nervous! 

It wasn’t until he smelled coffee along with eggs being fried that he finally dragged himself from his room, wiping his sweaty hands on his thighs. 

The first thing he noticed when he opened the door and headed toward the dining room for breakfast was the amount of noise Marianne’s elephants were making. The damn things were trumpeting like they were having temper tantrums. 

As he walked into the dining room he saw that everyone but Marianne was at the table. He ignored his nervous heart, trying to keep his tone slightly irritated instead of slightly upset as he pulled out his chair. Everyone was eating breakfast, though no one looked up and greeted Bog. He immediately sensed that something was wrong, but he didn’t know what. Even Roland, who had been fitting in nicely and whose relationship with Brandy was going well, looked as if he had just been smacked, or was waiting to be smacked. 

What the hell was wrong with everyone? Bog thought with a frown. 

“First morning we can sleep in and those damn elephants are being as loud as possible,” e muttered grumpily. “Hasn’t Mama Tembo fed them this morning?” he asked looking around, but it was 

Dawn, looking unhappy, who spoke. “Mama Tembo is gone.” 

Bog went perfectly still, his hand inches away from grasping his cup of coffee. “What?” 

Ian spoke up next. “She left early this morning.” 

Griselda came in from the kitchen carrying a basket with fresh biscuits in it wrapped in a towel. She stopped, her eyes widening. “What? Marianne’s gone?” 

Bog looked from Dawn to Ian, sounding completely confused. “What?” 

Ian looked to Sunny. “You try.” 

Sunny sighed. “She packed her bags and departed this morning, before breakfast.” 

Dawn nodded and frowned at Bog as she picked up a letter that she had on her lap. She held it up for Bog to see, her voice soft with sadness. “She slipped this under the door to Sunny’s room this morning since...” She blushed, but continued. “...she knows Sunny and I’ve been sharing a room.” 

Bog’s voice was filled with shock. He worked his mouth a moment, though it was clear he was having trouble finding words. “What? She...she can’t. But...” He looked lost and confused. His mother set the bowl down and smacked him in the shoulder. “Bogart King, what did you do?” 

“I didn’t do anything…” Bog looked and sounded utterly confused. 

His mother gasped softly when she saw the real pain in her son’s eyes. “Oh no…” 

Dawn glanced at Sunny as she unfolded the letter before looking up at Bog and began to read. 

“‘I’m so sorry Dawn, Sunny, everyone. I’ve never been good at goodbyes, you know that sis, so I’m having Saidi drive me into town this morning before everyone is awake. Tell everyone that I can’t find words to thank them. That I’ll never forget them, that I love them. This has been one of the best experiences of my life, you all mean the world to me. Griselda, I’ll miss your cooking and motherly advice, Brutus I’ll miss your laugh. Ian I’ll miss how bad you are at cards and Brandy, I’ll miss our talks. Make sure Roland treats you well and if he acts up sic the leopard on him, she and I have an understanding. Lizzie and Pare, you’ve both shown me something special. Sunny, be good to my sister. The two of you are adorable and I expect an invitation to a wedding soon or else. And Bog...I wish there was something I could have said to help you see me for myself and not through the lense of what that other woman did to you. I will never forgive her. Thank you all for such a lovely time. 

I love you all, Marianne.’” 

Bog shot up from his seat. “I’ve got to stop her!” 

Ian frowned looking up at him. “You mean you don’t want her to go?” 

Lizzie, who was sitting next to Pare, shook her head and muttered, “Bog, you are such an idiot sometimes.” 

Bog growled, glaring at everyone. “Of course I wanted her to stay!” 

Brutus reached over and grabbed one of Griselda’s biscuits. “Did you ask her to stay?” 

“Well...I was going to…” Bog muttered. 

“Going to?” Lizzie asked and leveled a glare at him. 

“Well...well, she ran me off last night so I thought I would just wait until this morning!” Bog snapped. 

Pare chuckled. “Smart girl.” 

Dawn shook her head and looked at the tall man with pity. “You were going to wait until this morning? Oh Bog….” 

Sunny frowned at Bog. “So ah, what’re you to do?” 

“Well, I’m going to fucking find her! That’s what I’m going to do!” Bog shoved his chair back and marched over to where his hat hung by the door. 

Sunny got up and followed him along with everyone else. “Arusha’s not a small place Bog, I mean she could be anywhere. And if she doesn’t want to be found...” 

Dawn stood up, running after them, her eyes bright. “Tembo! I bet Tembo could find her!” 

Bog stopped midstep, eyes widening at Dawn. “You think you..?” A tone of desperation had crept into his voice. 

Dawn grinned and nodded, her hands on her hips. She was wearing a light blue sundress and looked all of about sixteen at the moment with her bright smile, the morning sun having set her blonde hair to glowing. “I know he could, he’s a smart little elephant.” She turned and ran out of the kitchen, disappearing out the door toward the animal pens. 

Bog started to move again, his heart hammering and his hat forgotten. “Then what are we waiting for?!” He turned and yelled at Brutus. “Get on the phone, call Albert and any of the other guys at the airport, tell them not to let her on a plane.” 

Brutus frowned, shaking his head. “Bog, Albert is not going to stop an entire plane from leaving or stop Marianne from boarding if she has a ticket...” 

Bog had grabbed his hat and was about to walk out with Sunny and everyone else walking with him. He spun around, his eyes flashing at Brutus. 

“You tell them she stole money from me. Call the goddamn police and have them watch the road to Nairobi…” Bog growled. “I don’t care what you tell them, just make sure they know that she isn’t to leave!” 

Ian chuckled as he jogged to catch up with Bog, everyone following him out the door when the tall, determined man spun around and walked out. “So how much do you want us to tell them she stole?” 

Roland called out. “The Church of England!” That earned him a playful smack from Brandy who yelled out. “Roland and I will run by the taxi station!” 

Bog nodded rushing out to the jeep only to stop in shock when he saw Dawn running from around the corner with three baby elephants chasing after her. “Why’d you bring all of them?” he asked with a frown as he pulled the back of the jeep open and tried to guide Tembo into the back of the jeep. 

Dawn only giggled as she tried to help, giving Tembo a push from the back, but the little elephant refused to move more than to put his front two legs into the jeep. The little guy made mournful sounds and simply refused to move. 

Bog groaned in exasperation. “Oh, come on!! Tembo!! Not now!! We need to go!!” He looked at Dawn, then Sunny, then finally at his mother, and groaned in desperation. “What does Marianne do to make him move?” 

Dawn suddenly gasped. “I know!” 

She took off at a run back for the house while Bog stood by the jeep, looking confused and surrounded by three thrumpeting and upset baby elephants. A moment later Dawn came running out with a scarf that Bog had seen Marianne wearing, one of Dawn’s big sister’s shirts and a pair of Marianne’s slacks. Dawn grinned as she hurried over to the trio of elephants behind the jeep. “She left these behind!” Dawn announced with glee as she waved the clothing around then turned her attention to Tembo. “Okay Tembo honey, smell these....” She held the clothing up to the little elephant who ran his trunk over them. It was clear by the way the little animal’s eyes lit up that he knew exactly whose clothing he was sniffing. Dawn slowly walked backward, climbing into the jeep with Tembo, his trunk petting the clothing, following after. 

Bog smirked before waving the other two baby elephants off. “All right, you two stay here we don’t have enough room.” 

“BOG!! WAIT!!” 

Bog turned to see his mother, who had run back into the house, come running out again, holding something up. When she was close enough, Griselda grabbed Bog’s hand and put something in it. “You give this to her,” Griselda said while folding his fingers around the object in his hand. 

Bog opened his hand and looked down. In the middle of his palm lay a ring, a gold art deco halo ring with a central diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds and small purple sapphires. It was his grandmother’s ring. 

Griselda smiled at her son. “You give her that ring.” 

Bog’s chin trembled. “You sure Mam?” 

Griselda smiled, reaching up to lightly caress her son’s cheek. “I’m sure. Don’t let her get away honey.” 

Bog swallowed hard, fighting the tears in his eyes as he asked quietly. “You think she’ll say yes?” 

“I know she will. Now go.” She turned her son around and smacked him in the butt. “Hurry it up!” 

Bog smiled over his shoulder at his mother and rushed to the jeep shoving the ring into his pants pocket. 

Sunny hopped into the passenger seat of the jeep while Dawn stayed in the back with Tembo. Bog jumped behind the wheel once he had closed the back of the jeep. With a last smile at his mother, Bog started the vehicle and took off, hitting the gas as hard as he could. The other two baby elephants, not to be denied, gave chase. 

Racing out the gate after them though turning in the opposite direction to get into town was a jeep driven by Roland, holding Brandy and Ian. 

Griselda chuckled watching them all go, her arms folded as she stood watching them disappear. Brutus walked up beside her. “Now that is quite a sight.” 

Brutus grinned and draped his arm around her shoulders. “Let’s just hope they find her.” 

Griselda nodded, pressing her lips together. “Someone better go call the airport.” 

* 

Inside Pare hurried his way over to the phone the moment Bog and the elephants left the compound. It only took him a few moments before he had the airport on the line. 

“Yeah, this is the de la Court compound, if a girl about five foot three with light brown hair shows up, don’t let her in the plane.” He glanced over at Lizzie and smirked as he added, “She robbed the Bank of England.” 

* 

Arusha was a large city, made larger with hundreds of people coming and going at all hours of the day, big enough that a petite young woman like Marianne could easily lose herself if she didn’t want to be found. 

Ian, Roland, and Brandy rushed into Arusha, heading toward the taxi service and hitting the railroad station, while on the other side of the town, Bog--with a baby elephant in the back of his jeep along with Dawn and Sunny--raced around, searching all the main streets, looking for any sign of a petite, possibly angry brunette. 

Bog had just come around a corner, his hands tight on the jeep’s wheel when he saw Brandy and the others speeding around the opposite corner. The moment they saw them, Brandy leaned out of her jeep waving her arms “BOG!! BOG!!” 

Bog drove up alongside their jeep, ignoring the bewildered looks their small group was receiving from other cars and pedestrians. “Anything?” he asked, his voice filled with desperation. Brandy shook her head. “No, we just finished at the railway station--she wasn’t there …” 

Roland leaned across Brandy and added quickly, “We went by the ticket office before that though, and she has been there…” 

Bog’s eyes widened. “Did she get something?” 

“She got an airline ticket, but we went by the airport and she wasn’t there,” Roland said with a sigh. He shook his head and added. “I know Marianne. If she doesn’t want to be found, we ain’t going to find her.” 

Bog glared at Roland while at the same time his heart was beating hard and fast. What if Roland was right? What if Marianne didn’t want to be found? What would he do? He swallowed down the tightness in his throat that threatened to choke him, his eyes stinging with tears he refused to acknowledge just as Brandy added, 

“She has to still be in town.” 

Bog swallowed hard, his hands tightening on the wheel of the jeep until his knuckles were white. His throat threatened to close on him as he choked out, “But where?” 

Roland glanced at Brandy who hissed in frustration as she turned her attention back to Bog. “I don’t know…” 

Ian who was sitting in the back of the jeep with Roland and Brandy asked with a frown, “Tembo doing any good?” 

Bog shook his head. “Nothing…” 

Brandy glanced over at Dawn who held Marianne’s clothing she had brought with her to get Tembo into the jeep. “Those are Marianne’s clothes, right?” 

Dawn glanced over and nodded as she gently ran her hand over Tembo’s cheek. “Yeah…” 

“Well, isn’t he only smelling those then?” Ian asked, looking at everyone with his brows raised. 

Bog’s voice came out in a whisper. “Oh, fuck me…” 

Sunny rolled his eyes. “No wonder he isn’t getting anything! He’s only smelling her clothes!” 

Roland put his hand out. “Toss ‘em here!” 

Dawn tossed the clothes over to Roland’s jeep. Brandy caught them, stuffed them down between the seats and took off with Bog pulling their jeep in behind them. No sooner had the two jeeps taken off than Tembo’s two adopted siblings, who had been chasing Bog’s jeep through the town came rushing down the street after them, though none of the occupant’s of the vehicles seemed to notice the additional baby elephants trailing far behind them. 

* 

Small shops lined both sides of the street down which Bog drove the jeep, people coming out to watch as Bog’s vehicle drove by. He craned his neck, looking around and praying he saw some sign of Marianne when Tembo suddenly threw his head back and let out a loud trumpet. 

Dawn squealed. “BOG!! Stop!! I think Tembo has something!!!” 

Bog didn’t hesitate. He yanked the wheel hard to the left, pulling the jeep up alongside the sidewalk. Sunny leapt out and rushed to the back to help Dawn release Tembo with Bog hurriedly following from behind. More people came pouring out of the local shops to watch. 

The moment Tembo was out of the jeep, the baby elephant took off at a jog across the street. 

Sunny grinned turning to look at Bog. “I think he’s heading to Singh’s place!” 

Singh’s was a local grocery store. 

Bog didn’t hesitate; he simply yelled. “Well come on!!!” He took off running after Tembo without looking out for any oncoming traffic. Luckily for all of them the sight of a baby elephant had stopped traffic on its own. 

Once inside Singh’s, Tembo stopped. The little elephant swung it’s head one way, then the other, as if sniffing the air before he threw his head back and let out a triumphant trumpet. Standing at the pharmacy window was Marianne. 

She was dressed for traveling in a simple brown pencil skirt, matching jacket and dark purple blouse that brought out the color in her golden brown eyes. When she heard the sound of an elephant’s trumpet in the store, she swung around, dropping her bottle of pills on the counter, her eyes wide. 

“Oh no!” she gasped. 

No one saw her, but Marianne saw them. 

She quickly dropped down into a crouch, looked around and saw her escape: a back door out of the store. Standing and crouching at the same time (despite the odd look the pharmacist was giving her) Marianne crab-walked quickly out the door. 

But Tembo had caught her scent. 

The little elephant took off, running through the store without a care, his goal, his mother, clear in his little mind. 

Bog, Sunny, and Dawn were looking around for Marianne when Tembo charged off, the little elephant taking out two towers of canned goods on his way with Bog and the others in quick pursuit. Bog nearly tripped when the cans fell, rolling everywhere, the sound like a miniature explosion. He saved himself from completely going down by grabbing onto a display of bananas that hung from the ceiling. Bog’s entire body swung around for a second before he got his feet under him again. 

Dawn let out a yelp, jumping, and skipping over the cans and thanking her father for all the lessons in ballroom dancing she had received as a child or else she would have lost her footing. 

Sunny danced around, slamming into a shelf of baked goods and fumbling forward, but by some miracle he didn’t fall face first onto the floor among the wave of canned goods. Together the three of them stumbled out the door following Tembo. 

Outside the other two elephants had caught up to the jeeps, but they had also caught Marianne’s scent. Just as Marianne had dashed out, running across an alley and over another street with Tembo in hot pursuit, followed by a still stumbling Bog, Sunny, and Dawn, the other two baby elephants whipped around the corner, their mother’s scent guiding them. 

Marianne raced through a large garage where several trucks were being worked on. She dodged workers and passed vehicles on her way out, but Tembo was close behind, the little elephant determined to find his mother now that he had both caught her scent and seen her. 

Bog and the others came racing after. 

Marianne ducked into another store yelling. “TEMBO!! GO AWAY!!” 

She dodged around a display stand of kitchen utensils, but Tembo ignored her command. Bog and the others stumbled into the shop right after the little elephant. 

Sunny pointed and yelled. “There she is!!” 

Marianne ducked out another door onto the sidewalk outside and kept running. Tembo followed, staying close on her heels with Bog and the others following. Taking off across the street, Marianne slowed when a car jerked to a stop, laying down on their horn. Marianne barely gave them a look before she was running again. The man in the car watched in astonishment as a baby elephant followed close behind the young woman, followed by an extremely tall, slender man, and another young woman and man, both of whom waved joyfully at him as they ran by. 

* 

Not too far away Roland, Brandy, and Ian--who had been slowly driving close by in the hopes of catching sight of Marianne--came to a stop just as the other two baby elephants, clearly onto something and running at top baby elephant speed, zipped right past them. 

Roland looked at Brandy who giggled and pointed. “Follow those elephants!” 

Roland grinned and made an illegal left turn, following the two speeding baby elephants. The two elephants hopped onto the sidewalk and disappeared through an open space between two concrete walls. Roland pulled the jeep up against one of the walls on the sidewalk and parked, the three of them tumbling out of the jeep in hot pursuit. Behind them several onlookers gave pursuit to see what on earth was going on... 

* 

Marianne had no idea where to go where she could lose Tembo and Bog. Her emotions were on standby, a twisting swirl of confused butterflies in her gut as she raced across the street heading into the Safari Hotel. Why, she didn’t know, but she raced through the door, passed the check-in desk and ran into the bar. She twisted around and hid behind one of the bar’s large pillars. She was breathing fast as Tembo charged into the bar twisting out of the way to avoid running into the pillar. og, Sunny and her sister raced ater the elephant, all of them turning. 

Marianne took that opportunity to race around the pillar and back out the door she had come in through, only to get half way into the lobby and nearly stumble when she saw coming in through the back patio door of the hotel were the other two baby elephants with Roland, Brandy and Ian in hot pursuit behind them. 

Marianne stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes wide. 

She turned just as Tembo, with Bog right behind him, followed by Sunny and her sister, came racing out of the bar. 

Marianne groaned loudly, stomping over to one of the lobby’s chairs and flopped down in tears. 

“WHY??!!’ Marianne wailed. Tears filled her eyes and rolled down her cheeks as she glared at all of them. “I didn’t want you to find me! Why couldn't you just let me go?!” 

The baby elephants surrounded her, huffing and reaching out to gently touch their mother with their trunks, caressing her hair, her arms, legs, cheeks, clearly happy to have found her, but also just as clearly confused as to why their mother was crying. Everyone stood around Marianne and the elephants (‘everyone’ included the people who had been in the lobby before the crowd showed up and everyone who had been following the mad chase of baby elephants through the city.) 

Bog swallowed. Now that he had found her, he felt himself choke up. 

Sunny smacked Bog in the shoulder at the same time that Dawn, on his other side, gave him a tiny shove toward her sister. 

Bog stumbled a step forward. “Uh…” 

Marianne was angrily sobbing as she glared at Bog with red rimmed eyes. “Why didn’t you just let me go?!” 

Bog swallowed looking around. There were so many eyes on them. He could feel his heart beat increase tenfold, his hands becoming sweaty and his throat tightening further. Tembo reached out and gently caressed his mother’s cheek with his trunk only to have Marianne sniff and glare at the little elephant shoving his trunk away. “This is all your fault.” 

Tembo made a soft mournful trumpet sound, clearly confused and hurt by his mother’s reaction, but still not the least bit unhappy about having found his mother. Tembo continued to try to comfort her. 

Marianne sighed, tears rolling down her cheeks as she stroked Tembo’s trunk, followed by the other two baby elephants who gathered close, all wanting to reassure their mother. 

Bog rubbed the back of his neck, trying to ignore everyone that was watching them. “Ah...it’s not the little guy’s fault...it’s mine.” 

Marianne wiped angrily at her nose. “Why didn’t you just let me leave?” she asked again though her words lacked the heat they had a few seconds before. 

Bog sighed looking down at his shoes and continued rubbing the back of his neck nervously. He wished he had a cigarette. He took a deep, shaky breath and asked, “Can, uh...can we go talk someplace else?” Bog looked around at all the staring eyes. 

Marianne thought for a moment of telling Bog that if he couldn’t say what he wanted right here, right now, she didn’t want to hear it, but at the same time she started to realize just how many people were watching them. It felt like the entirety of Arusha, the entirety of Africa had their eyes on them. 

“I uh...I guess,” Marianne muttered. 

Bog pointed back over his shoulder at the bar behind him with his thumb. “Can I buy you a drink?” 

Marianne stood, the baby elephants all hurrying to surround and protect their mother. “Yes, I suppose.” 

Dawn giggled, turning toward the crowd. “Can I get some hay for the elephants and would some of the children like to help brush them?” 

It wasn’t long before Dawn and the others were leading Tembo and his adopted siblings outside while Bog led Marianne into the bar (but not before Roland grabbed Bog by the elbow and yanked him close. “Don’t fuck this up,” Roland said with a hiss. Bog had given him an astonished look only to have Roland smile at him and shrug before leaving him to join the others outside.) 

Bog pressed his lips together watching Roland go before he turned his attention to leading Marianne into the bar. 

* 

The patrons in the bar stared at the two of them as Bog ordered them each a beer before leading Marianne to a corner table that would give them some privacy. The bartender brought their beers over without a word and left them alone. 

The bar was quiet and they could hear the sounds the children and the crowd made over the baby elephants outside. 

Marianne sniffed, opened her purse to pull out a tissue, and blew her nose. “So, what do you want to talk about?” she asked without looking at Bog. 

Bog gently twisted his beer bottle around between his hands without taking a drink from it. The cold felt good on his hands, but the butterflies in his stomach were doing loop de loops. “I ah…” He swallowed. He figured there was only one way to do this, that was to just get straight to the point. 

He said softly, staring at the bottle at first. “I love you Marianne.” He looked up slowly to see her staring at him, her brown eyes wide. He looked back at her, his beautiful, stubborn, wild Marianne. Now that he had said it, the butterflies in his stomach were no longer doing loop de loops, but were swearing, dancing with the pleasure of knowing he was speaking the truth and letting that truth fill him with the joy that he was in love. 

“I love you. I don’t want you to go. I...I want you...I...” He swallowed and shoved his hand into the pocket of his pants, pulling out the ring. He held the ring up so that the bar’s light caught the stones. 

Bog stood and then got down on his knees beside the table. All of the conversation in the room stopped. 

Bog ignored everyone around them and focused on Marianne. He held the ring in front of him, but his eyes were only on her. “Marianne, I love you. I love everything about you. I love your smile, your stubbornness, and the fact that you’re the mother to three elephants. I love how impossible you are and what a beautiful person you are.” He was trembling a little and trying as he might, he couldn’t stop himself from shaking, but he pressed on. “I would be honored if you would marry an ass like me, be my wife...” He smiled, his cheeks red, and a single tear fell down his cheek. “And...ah fuck it Marianne. Will you marry me...this afternoon maybe?” Bog asked, his blue eyes bright and hopeful. 

Marianne stared back at him for beat before her smile burst across her face like the sun rising over the Serengeti. “Yes, oh yes Bog!” 

Marianne fell to her knees in front of Bog, wrapped her arms around him, her lips pressed against him. Bog wrapped his arms around her and held her close, returning her kiss with every ounce of love and passion he felt for her. 

Marianne was crying, but her tears had turned to joy. She only let go of Bog long enough for him to take her hand and slip the ring onto her finger. 

He kissed her again, brushing his long, pointed nose against hers and whispered, “The courthouse is just a block away. If we hurry, we can get hitched and back before Tembo and the others realize we’re gone.” 

Marianne giggled, her eyes dancing with pleasure. “Then what are we waiting for?” 

* 

It was late. 

The sun had set hours ago, but the music and laughter were still going. 

Marianne, freshly bathed, was brushing her hair wearing only one of Bog’s pajama shirts. She smiled at her reflection and the ring that danced on her ring finger before she set her brush down. She looked at herself in the mirror one more time before turning off the lights and hurrying to slip between the sheets in Bog’s bed to wait. 

Her heart was beating quickly with happiness and excitement. 

She didn’t have to wait long before Bog came into the room. He closed the door behind him and walked past the bed, almost to the exact spot where she had first seen him on her very first night in Africa. He started to unbutton his shirt, had just slipped it off his shoulders. He had just started to unbutton his pants when she whispered into the dark. 

“I think I should tell you that you’re not alone.” 

Bog smirked, turning on the lamp before he slowly turned around. He grinned when he saw Marianne in his bed looking beautiful, her smile sweet, yet with promised mischief. He walked over to the bed and stopped to lean against the frame. “What’s your name?” 

Marianne giggled. “Marianne.” 

Bog smirked right back at her. “So what’s a pretty girl like you doing in my bed?” 

Marianne opened her mouth to respond when suddenly the door to the bedroom opened and a very drunk Sunny came wandering in. He stopped at the side of the bed and glared at Marianne. 

“Bog, I wanted to talk to you. You know how we chased Marianne…” Sunny began before Bog grasped him gently by the shoulder and spun him around. 

Sunny gasped. “Bog! Hey, you know how we were looking for Marianne this afternoon?” 

Bog nodded patiently. “Yeah…” 

“She’s in your bed!” Sunny turned to look at Marianne, gasping in surprise as if he had just now noticed her. That was the moment when Dawn, giggling brightly and clearly a little drunk herself, came rushing into the room. 

“Damn Sunny! There you are!” She laughed, grinning at Bog and her sister. “Sorry, he’s slippery.” Dawn put her arms around her lover and spun Sunny around. “Come on Sunny, I think we’ve had enough celebrating.” 

“Why’s your sister in his bed?” Sunny looked confused, but Bog chuckled. “‘Cause she’s my wife Sunny.” 

“She’s your wife? You got married? Wow!” Sunny giggled grinning at Dawn. “We should get married!” 

Dawn blushed giggling. “Ask me again when you’re not drunk…” 

“Pfft...I got the ring weeks ago...hold on…” Sunny fumbled in his pockets before he in fact produced a small, yet perfect, oval diamond engagement ring. He slipped down on his knees looking up at Dawn, his eyes clear. 

“Dawn, will you marry me?” Sunny asked, his voice hushed. 

Dawn stared at him. “Are you serious?” 

Sunny nodded while Marianne and Bog exchanged smiles. “I am. Been trying to work up the nerve, but if Bog can get the courage to ask Marianne then I...well…” He took a breath. “I love you Dawn.” 

Dawn squealed and threw herself at Sunny who barely had time to catch her. “YES, YES, YES!!” She squealed, dragging him back up to his feet at the same time taking his ring and sliding it on her finger. “We’ve got to tell everyone!!” 

Sunny giggled, kissing Dawn before he turned to Bog and Marianne. “Night!” 

Bog waved as Dawn yanked Sunny from the room. He laughed and walked over to close the door when suddenly Tembo and two baby elephants charged into the room nearly knocking Bog out of the way. 

Marianne squeaked. “Oh, oh, oh no!! Tembo no!!” 

Tembo excitedly tried to climb into Bog’s bed with his mother along with the other two elephants which sent the bed crashing to the floor. 

Bog stood by the door and started to laugh. 

* 

The soft sound of insects filled the late night air from the open window. The moon’s light shone in, making the room glow with a gentle silver light. 

Marianne laid curled up against Bog, her naked body flush against his naked side, one leg wrapped around one of his thighs. He had his arm wrapped around her shoulder while he smoked a cigarette, blowing smoke up into the air, both of them watching as the moon’s glow made the cigarette smoke dance like wisps of silver. She smiled in contentment, her cheek against his chest, her fingers sliding up and down his bare stomach. 

They were both quiet, enjoying the cool night air that blew in through the window, brushing along their nude bodies. Bog leaned over to put the cigarette out before he settled back down again. 

“Are you happy?” he asked before kissing her hair. 

Marianne smiled and snuggled her nose against his bare skin. “Very.” 

“You don’t want to go to Europe or to the States during the off season?” Bog asked slowly, tracing her bare arm with his fingers. 

“Nope, just want to stay right here, with you.” She pushed up on her elbows to smile at him. Bog gazed lovingly at her, the moon’s light dancing across her skin. 

“There is nowhere I would rather be Bog.” She kissed his chest, then his chin, and finally his mouth. They kissed for a long time, slow and passionate, enjoying the feel of each others lips and tongues, the softness of their bodies sliding together. 

Marianne climbed on top of him, brushing her fingers through his hair as she brushed the thick dark locks back from his face. Bog smirked up at her, laying his hands on her hips. 

“I love you wife,” he murmured, caressing her hips, then up to her waist. 

“I love you too my husband,” she said softly, sliding herself against him feeling her new husband’s excitement building again. 

Bog moaned with pleasure and reached up, sliding his fingers into her hair as he pulled her back down to him. “Are you real?” he asked with a smile, the moon’s light making his blue eyes glow. 

Marianne chuckled at his question. 

“Let me prove it,” Marianne whispered. She planned to prove it all through the night, through the entirety of the off season and into the new hunting season...and for the rest of their lives.


End file.
